LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # 



{ ^/. BR 1 2 i 

— # 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA* 



PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 



VERSUS 



POPULAR THEOLOGY: 



THE RELATION OF THE HUMANITY TO THE DIVINITY, BY 

VIRTUE OF ITS INBEING MEMBERSHIP OF THE BODY 

OF CHRIST, WHO IS THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN, 

AND THE HEAD OF CHRIST IS GOD. 



BY JAMES HALL. 



NEW YORK: 
HENRY LYON, 333 BROADWAY. 

AUBURN : 
VINCENT KENTOK, M GENE8KB-ST. 
1S53. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, 
BY JAMES HALL, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 



PREFACE. 



The author of the few pages hereby given to the press, 
assuredly believing that the scriptures alone reveal the ulti- 
mate destiny of the humanity, has been many years seeking, 
and believes that he has obtained from that source, a satisfac- 
tory solution of that momentous problem : which solution is 
the relation of the Humanity to the Divinity, by virtue of its 
ifibeing membership of the body of Christ, who is the head of 
every man, and the head of Christ is God. Every child of 
Adam is therefore an heir of God, and joint heir with Jesus 
Christ ; consequently, human destiny is an eternal future of 
infinite blessedness and glory. 

Let it not be thought that such a consummation of the 
works and purposes of God, if true, is too great and glorious 
to have been hitherto withheld from the world. It has not 
been so withheld, but " was made known " eighteen hundred 
years ago " to the holy apostles and prophets." Such was 
the gospel of the grace of God ; such was Primitive Chris- 
tianity. Jt has indeed been lamentably obscured, since the 
fourth or fifth century, by the dissemination of other gospels, 
and the Pagan doctrine of a vengeful Deity and eternal tor- 
ments. 

Let those who seek and appreciate truth, from whatever 



IV PREFACE. 

source it may emanate, or by whomsoever elicited, weigh the 
evidence adduced in support of the doctrines set forth in the 
work ; and whether disposed, or not, to heed the arguments 
of the author, decide, according to the law of the divine 
character and perfection, between a partial (conditional), and 
a universal (unconditional) salvation. All are alike interested 
in that decision ; all must abide by it, if made according to 
the law, and on the principle proposed ; there is no appeal. 

The opposition and odium which so unpopular a work may 
have to encounter, even from principalities and powers, ought 
not to suppress its publication by an honest and sincere be- 
liever in its truth. The infinite issues in question, should 
nerve him in the undertaking, however unpracticed in polemi- 
cal discussion, or unpretending to literary attainments : he 
believes rejoicingly, and with his whole heart, and has there- 
fore spoken. He is rich in faith, enjoying the earnest of his 
and the world's inheritance, which is reserved in heaven until 
the redemption of the purchased possession. J. H. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. page 

Introductory Remarks 7 

The certain and positive Relation of the Humanity to 

Christ and Adam 12 

The Fall or lapse of the Humanity in Adam 13 

Birth of Jesus — his Baptism and Union with the Son 

of God 20 

CHAPTER II. 
The Remission of the Sins of the World in and by the 

Death of Christ 27 

Second Advent and Resurrection 32 

CHAPTER III. 

Cause of Sin and Suffering, and the termination of both. . 49 

Terms "Hell" and "Devil" figuratively used 61 

CHAPTER IV. 

Gift of the Holy Ghost 75 

CHAPTER V. 
Comment on a portion of the Epistle to the Romans (con- 
tinued in Chapter VI.) 84 

Remarks on Second Corinthians, Chapter V 161 

Remarks on a portion of the Epistle to the Ephesians 169 

Comment of Philippians, Chapter III 187 

Comment on a portion of the Epistle to the Hebrews 193 

Responsibilities of the Christian Ministry 208 

Of the Unseen World 213 



PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

VERSUS 

POPULAR THEOLOGY. 



CHAPTEE I. 



The opinion lias been expressed by some deep- 
thinking and philanthropic minds, that the incul- 
cations of Christianity by its professors and advo- 
cates, including all sects and denominations during 
its era of eighteen hundred years, has given no 
evidence of a sufficient inherent power to control 
the passions, and incite to a life of practical kind- 
ness and love, so large a portion of mankind, as 
was confidently and piously hoped for ; and has 
therefore not fulfilled its mission. 

It is, however, admitted, that it has greatly im- 
proved and elevated the character of the once 
barbarous but now civilized nations ; — that it has 
refined the general taste — has been a powerful aid 
to the cause of education — the improvement and 
progress of the arts and sciences — and the develop- 
ment of mind. 

If such be the aggregate results of the systems 
of religious doctrines, under which the civilized 



8 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

world has thus far progressed, it is suggestive of 
the question, whether the world has, and does 
enjoy Christianity, in its primitive purity, or an 
adulteration of it, under that name. 

For a solution of that question, the only resort 
is to the scriptures, " which are able to make us 
wise unto salvation." 

True Christianity hath its origin, as we believe 
all will admit, in the nature and purposes of God 
— of whom it is affirmed by his Son, that " he so 
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever belie veth on him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent 
not his Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but that the world through him might be saved." — 
John 3 : 16, 17. 

Further : " God, who at sundry times and in divers 
manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the 
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by 
his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, 
by whom also he made the worlds : who being the 
brightness of his glory, and the express image of 
his person, and upholding all things by the word 
of his power, when he had by himself purged our 
sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on 
high ; being made so much better than the angels, 
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excel- 
lent name than they."— Heb. 1st : 1, 2, 3, 4. "He 
is the first-born of every creature." — Col. 1 : 15. 
" Christ is the head of every man, and the head of 
Christ is God."— 1st Cor. 11 : 3. 



VEKSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 9 

These scriptures teach, that Christianity is the 
revelation of the love of God to the world. 

Those protestant sects and denominations of 
Christians who claim to be orthodox, may be classed 
in two general divisions, and denominated, Armi- 
nian and Calvinistic ; the former denying, and the 
latter affirming, the doctrine of election and pre- 
destination of some men to everlasting life and 
glory, and some to everlasting condemnation and 
punishment. The former, and the largest body of 
Christians, hold and teach that by reason of the 
sin of Adam, and consequent depravity and sin 
of his offspring, all the race became obnoxious to 
God's wrath and curse, and were justly doomed to 
endless woe and misery : 

That the Son of God, the second of a Trinity of 
persons in the God-head, and of equal power and 
glory, voluntarily assumed the place and condition 
of the guilty race, and covenanted with the Father 
to suffer in their room and stead, the endless tor- 
ments to which his wrath and curse had consigned 
them. 

The object and design of which covenant was, 
that the guilty might escape their just punish- 
ment, and the wrath of the Deity be turned to love 
and blessing, ultimating in their everlasting felicity 
and glory : on condition, however, of repentance 
and faith, without which the said substitutional 
suffering would avail them nothing. 

The Calvinistic portion of the Christian world 
also believe in the doctrine ot the Trinity, vica- 

1* 



10 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

rious and expiatory suffering of Christ, but limit 
its efficacy to the Elect, whom they believe were 
predestinated to eternal life, in view not. only of 
Christ's sufferings in their room, but also of the 
imputation, or transfer to them, of his righteous- 
ness. 

The non-elect were accordingly predestinated to 
eternal wrath and endless woe. Both denomina- 
tions hold that none can be saved but those who 
truly repent and believe in Christ in this life. 

To the reflecting mind, both systems forebode 
the everlasting torment of a vast majority of our 
race. Namely, the millions of millions of those 
who have died and will die, without knowing or 
even hearing of the name of Christ ; and also of 
the millions who have heard, but have not repented 
or believed. 

Can such be the Christianity of the Bible ? Can 
it be the gospel which is good news and glad 
tidings to all people ? Can we be required to 
assimilate our disposition and character to that 
of a being who gave existence to millions whom 
he foresaw would of necessity become the objects 
of his infinite wrath, and on whom he would in- 
flict eternal torments ? Such is not the character 
of him " who, for the great love wherewith he 
loved us, when we were dead in sins, quickened us 
together with Christ," — nor of "him who is kind 
to the unthankful and the evil — who loves them 
that hate him, and blesses them that curse him." 
It is, however, congratulatory to the world, that 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 11 

the popular creeds are not so generally heeded as 
formerly, and that a large portion of the Christian 
ministry find it more congenial both to their own 
minds and feelings, and to those of the community 
generally, to proclaim the "good news and glad 
tidings of the gospel" to a lost world. And hence 
the only instances of true and genuine conversion 
among all sects of professing Christians. The 
assurance of the infinitely forgiving mercy and 
love of God, as revealed in Christ, is "the power 
of God unto salvation." True repentance, deep 
and sincere contrition, or a broken and contrite 
heart, are the legitimate fruits of such assurance 
or faith. Infinite mercy, almighty love and good- 
ness, subdues the spirit, melts the heart to the ten- 
derness of the filial love of a heaven-born soul. 
" We love God because he first loved us." 

St a New Testament doctrine of the New 

Birth. Such is that knowledge of God which 
giveth the enjoyment of eternal life. — John 17 : 3. 
All holy and happy influences, resulting from the 
labors of the Christian ministry, Christian societies 
and instituti 3 the fruits of faith, derived from 

the knowledge of the love and mercy of God. 

The knowledge of a being whose wrath and 

eance can be placated only by the eternal 

misery of the sinner or his substitute, can but 

rn and terrify the soul; — his fears may incite 

to seek a union with the Church, as a means 

e from the threatened doom, but will leave 

r to the hnmble, holy, and loving 



12 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

spirit of a believer in the pardoning mercy of 
God. 

If Christianity, adulterated by the admixture of 
doctrines and creeds wholly adverse to its vital 
and life-giving power, has notwithstanding accom- 
plished a glorious mission, and conferred inesti- 
mable blessings upon the world, shall it not, when 
unincumbered and disinthralled, become the great 
and only moral power to reform, fraternize, and 
bless mankind with universal peace and love ? I 
most sincerely believe that Christianity may be so 
reconstructed, or rather, that we may ascertain 
that it is already so constructed, as to produce that 
happy result. 

True Christianity, as before remarked, hath its 
origin in the everlasting love of God. " He hath 
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not ac- 
cording to our works, but according to his own 
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ 
Jesus, before the world began." — 2 Tim. 1 : 9. 
"He is the first born of every creature." — Col. 
1: 15. 

As in Adam was created the whole humanity, 
the fountain of human existence — and as he was, 
according to Scripture testimony, a true figure of 
him that was to come (which was Christ), so in 
Christ was created a spiritual nature, the fountain 
of spiritual existence. — Eom. 5 : 12. 14. 

Adam was the head of the earthly nature, and 
his posterity, the members of his body, each of 
whom are of and from the fountain of human 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 13 

existence in him, as drops are of and from the 
ocean. 

Christ is the head of the spiritual nature or body, 
of which spiritual body every man is also a mem- 
ber, and is therefore spiritually of and from him, 
Christ, as drops are of and from the ocean. — 1 Cor. 
15 : 15—22 ; 45—49. 

The attributes of a man are, therefore, a human 
soul and body, derived from Adam, and an im- 
mortal spirit, which is the image of God, derived 
from Christ. 

The whole fountain of human existence, as be- 
fore stated, having been created in Adam, and he 
being constituted the head of the race, the perfect 
oneness of the head and members made his trans- 
gression and sin theirs. The consequent guilt and 
fear in which he sought to hide from him, whose 
presence had hitherto been the fulness of his joy, 
was moral death, both to the head and the mem- 
bers. 

11 And so death passed upon all men, for that all 
have sinned." All sinned by virtue of their one- 
ness with their head. 

Natural or physical death is a consequence of 
our creation in Adam, but not of his sin : the 
reason or cause of it is its earthliness — its inherent 
tendency to decay and dissolution. " Thou shalt 
return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou 
taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt 
return." — Gen. 3 : 19. The nature was made 
"subject to vanity," change, or death, not as an 



14 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

end, but in view of its redemption and resurrection 
in Christ. 

Such was the lost condition of mankind, from 
which the Father purposed in himself, before the 
world began, to redeem and save it, as the inherit- 
ance of his only begotten Sou, who is " his express 
image, and the brightness of his glory," — pre-exist- 
ent to all beings, except the Father — a by whom 
also he made the worlds, and whom he appointed 
heir of all things ; who hath, by inheritance from 
the Father, a name and nature more excellent and 
more exalted than any other being." 

Simultaneous with the lapse and fall of the 
humanity (in mass) from primeval innocence, was 
the announcement of its condemnation. 

Also, at the same time, was the divine mercy 
and compassion manifested toward us, in the pro- 
mise of a redeemer and deliverer, in the seed of 
the woman. 

Which promise, although literally importing the 
sentence and punishment of the deceiver and 
tempter, was also expressive of the victory pro- 
mised over the lusts of the flesh, of which the 
serpent's character was so strikingly a type, and 
we have sufficient evidence to justify the inference 
that it was a promise of the Messiah, as the redeem- 
er, sanctifier, and saviour of our race, in the 
immediate institution of Offerings and Sacrifices, 
which prefigured Christ's sufferings, death and 
resurrection. They were, therefore, a symbolic 
revelation of his true 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 15 

• Such, we may infer, was the faith of Abel, by 
which he obtained witness that he was righteous, 
God testifying of his gifts. — Heb. 11 : 4. He ap- 
propriated to himself by faith the perfect righteous- 
ness, sufferings, death and resurrection of Christ, 
by a participation in them as a member of his 
body. 

The grand and sublime idea of all sacrificial 
offerings is the figurative and representative death 
of the worshiper in that of the animal slain; and 
his acceptance with God, through that medium, is 
figuratively expressive of his resurrection and ac- 
cess to the Father in and through Christ. 

Hence, the blood which Abel offered as the 
evidence of his death in that of the firstlings of 
his flock, rendered his offering more acceptable 
than that of Cain, in which no blood was shed. 
Perfect acceptance with, and access to the presence 
of God, must be preceded by death, and the blood 
offered in sacrifice is accepted as the evidence of 
that change. The offering of Cain was, therefore, 
not expressive of a true faith in him that was to 
come, and without faith, it is impossible to please, 
or to obtain an evidence of acceptance with God. 
By the same faith as that of Abe], Enoch obtained 
the testimony, or assurance of the same righteous- 
ness and justification in Christ; and Xoah also 
became heir — obtained the same assurance of ri 
eousness and justification through the same me- 
dium.— Heb. 11 : 5, 6, 7. 

Ths o to 



16 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

the office of priest, as doth the leading and con- 
ducting of public worship. He, the priest, may- 
offer and worship in his own person and name, and 
in behalf of others also : As did Noah, who was 
the first who officiated in that capacity. u He 
found grace in the eyes of the Lord, for himself 
and family, consisting of eight persons." — Gen. 6 : 
18. Which persons were saved with him, and for 
his sake. To which salvation allusion is made by 
the Apostle Peter, as prefigurative of Christ, and 
the salvation of the world in and through him. 
The Spirit, or spiritual Son of God, who quickened, 
or raised the crucified body of Jesus from the dead, 
the Apostle says, went and preached, when the 
long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, 
while the ark was preparing, to the spirits in 
prison, or to the people whose spirits were in the 
prison, or state of the dead at the time the Apostle 
wrote.— 1 Peter 3 : 18, 19, 20. 

So Abraham believed God's promise, that him- 
self, with all the nations and families of the earth, 
should be blessed in Christ, and it was accounted 
to him — was assurance to him of righteousness, 
justification, and a glorious resurrection in Christ. 
And the scripture assures us, that the same bless- 
ing shall be assured to us, if we believe as he be- 
lieved. 

The atoning or reconciling sacrifice and offering 
which was at first instituted, was continued until 
the coming of the Messiah, — until the incarnation 
of the Son of God : whose sufferings, death, and 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 17 

resurrection, as before stated, were prefigured by 
them. 

It is quite probable, however, that the true idea 
of those sacrifices and offerings, as well as the 
knowledge of the true God, were in process of 
time lost to a great portion of mankind ; and that 
all the sacrificial systems adopted by idolatrous 
nations, were but misconceptions and very gross 
corruptions of them. 

God chose and made a covenant with Abraham 
and his seed, by which they became his peculiar 
people, and by the institution of the rite of cir- 
cumcision, he sealed them as his own ; not because 
they were more the objects of his love than other 
nations, but that in blessing he might bless them, 
and through them, all the nations and families of 
the earth. 

The ordinances and rites, peculiar to the wor- 
ship of the Israelites, under the Mosaic economy, 
was a more full and sublime illustration of the 
character and offices of Christ than had been pre- 
viously given. His office, as the great high priest, 
to offer gifts and sacrifices, as the Mediator or 
medium of access unto God, was pre-eminently 
typified, in the high priest of the Aaronic order. 
The whole people were figuratively in him, the 
names of their twelve tribes being engraven on his 
breast-plate, which he bore upon his heart, when 
he offered the blood of the animals sacrificed, and 
which was accepted, as the evidence of the repre- 



18 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANmr 

sentative death of himself, and of the people in 
him.— Lev. 16 : 18. 15. 

Such were the " shadows of good things to 
come" — of Christ, the great high priest, both of 
Jews and Gentiles. And as the whole people were 
representatively in the high priest under the law, 
so all men were (not representatively,) but truly 
and verily in Christ ; and being members of his 
body are participant of his perfect righteousness, 
sufferings, death, and resurrection. 

As the death of the people and priest under the 
law was figurative only, and the divine presence 
in the earthly sanctuary was but a symbol, " Christ 
became the mediator of the New Testament, that 
by means of death for the redemption of the trans- 
gressions under the first testament, they which are 
called might receive the promise of eternal inheri- 
tance." Or, that by means of his (Christ's) death, 
which was the death of every man, as members of 
his body, the transgressions even under the first 
testament, with all others, might be pardoned — 
blotted out ; that they who were called (those to 
whom the gospel was preached,) might receive the 
promise — the assurance of u eternal inheritance,' ' 
— a glorious resurrection to immortality. 

Which assurance the Holy Ghost, (whom I un- 
derstand to be no other than Christ himself) signi- 
fied, was not to be fully enjoyed, while the first 
tabernacle was yet standing. 

The word testament, as used in the text and 
context, is expressive of the evidence of the accep- 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 19 

tance with, and access to God, of both priest and 
people by their figurative obedience, death, and 
resurrection, under the Old, — and of their true 
and real obedience, death, and resurrection, under 
the New Testament. 

In other language, it is the blood of sprinkling, 
offered by the high priest and accepted by God, 
and of which all represented in him (the high 
priest) are partakers. 

The testator under the law being the high priest, 
he testified by his re-appearance after his figurative 
death and resurrection; and Christ by his resur- 
rection and re-appearance, was the testator under 
the New Testament. 

Moses sprinkling the book, (in which was writ- 
ten the commandments of God, instituting the 
tabernacle worship, consisting in sacrifices and 
offerings before the mercy seat,) and all the people 
with water, and the blood of calves and goats, tes- 
tified that the people with himself, were accepted 
of God as having died figuratively, in the animals 
slain — "saying this is the blood of the testament 
which God hath enjoined unto you." 

The law, — its emblems, figures and shadows, are 
declared to have been a schoolmaster to bring the 
worshipers under the first testament to Christ. — 
Gal. 3 : 24. And I have sought to avail myself 
of the instructions of the same teacher, that I 
might discover the harmony of those scriptures, 
both in the old and new testaments, which in- 
culcate the great truths of which I have spoken. 



20 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

The miraculous birth of Christ was a literal 
fulfilment, both of the promise of the seed of the 
Woman, and the prophecies concerning him. 
What infinite glories were treasured in the babe 
of Bethlehem, cradled in a manger! and with 
what ineffable joy they were beheld and proclaim- 
ed by a multitude of the heavenly Host ! 

u And the child grew and waxed strong in 
spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was 
upon him." 

At the age of about thirty years, he entered the 
priest's office — being publicly baptized or washed 
(which was the initiating ordinance under the law), 
and as publicly anointed with the Holy Ghost, or 
Holy Spirit, under the emblem of a dove descend- 
ing and resting upon him, which Holy Spirit, or 
Holy Ghost, I understand to be no other than the 
Son of God himself, and the same person who is 
always designated by those names. 

Here was the union of the earthly and the 
heavenly natures perfected, the oneness of the Son 
of God with the Son of Man, by which he became 
the head of every member of the Adamic nature, 
as he was also of the heavenly or spiritual nature. 

Such I conceive to be the marriage which a cer- 
tain King made for his Son. — Mat. 22 : 1 — 13. At 
which marriage the wedding feast was of fat things, 
full of marrow, of wines on the lees, well refined 
(in other language, the gospel of the grace of God); 
which feast was also made by the King, the Lord 
of Hosts, unto all people. — Isa. 25 : 6. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 21 

Up to this period of the life of Jesus, we only 
know that he was subject to his parents, dwelt at 
Nazareth, and was a carpenter, — that he had hither- 
to assumed no public office, but was then led up 
of the spirit into the wilderness, that he might, in 
our nature, encounter the severest temptations, and 
triumphantly resist and overcome them. 

After which he returned from the mighty con- 
flict in the power of the Spirit, — the power of the 
Son of God, to teach and preach to the people. 
The teachings and works of his subsequent life 
were those of a Savior, Sanctifler, Redeemer, Pro- 
phet, Priest and King. His character and Sonship 
now became two-fold — the Son of God, the head 
of the spiritual nature, and the Son of Man, the 
head of the earthly nature, as it existed in Adam 
(in mass) before he had issue. 



22 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 



CHAPTER II. 

There are many of Christ's sayings which are in 
harmony with no other than the doctrine of our 
membership of his body. Instance the following : 

The Saviour assures us that when we feed the 
hungry, clothe the naked, entertain strangers, visit 
the sick and the prisoner, our ministrations are to 
himself.— Matt. 25 : 45. 

Which tender expressions of his love for the 
members of his body, of his mercy and loving 
kindness toward all who are in want, in distress, 
or in prison, without distinction of moral character, 
are radiations from " his glory, as the only be- 
gotten of the Father, full of his (the Father *s) grace 
and truth." 

Happy, thrice happy would it make the world, 
if all could see and feel that every infant or child, 
every human being who is in want, or is sick or in 
prison, is a member of that nature or body of which 
Christ is the head, and that he is, therefore, a par- 
taker of his obedience, suffering, death and resur- 
rection. 

That they might, in fact and in truth, behold 
Christ in the infant, the child, and in every human 
being, whatsoever may be his state or condition. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY, 23 

11 And I, if I be lifted up," saith the Eedeemer, 
" will draw all men unto me." — John 13 : 32. All 
men being in him, were lifted up, suffered, died in 
him on the cross. 

Again ; " Then, said Jesus unto them, verily, 
verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the 
Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life 
in you. Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh 
my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up 
at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and 
my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh 
and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in 
him." — John 6 : 53 — 66. To eat or partake of 
Christ's flesh, and drink or partake of his blood, is 
evidently to dwell or be in him, which we really 
are : being members of his body, of his flesh, and 
of his bones. — Ep. 5 : 30. 

The saying of Christ that " he is the resurrection 
and the life," if understood to refer to the inbeing 
of all men in him, is explanatory of his meaning. 
If the power of the resurrection to immortality 
and glory is given to Christ, the head of every 
man, every man shall be " quickened together 
with him." " He that believeth in me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live." He that believeth 
in Christ, or that he is the resurrection and the 
life, as " the head of every man, though he were 
dead (in a state of moral death), yet shall he live,' ; 
a life of faith in Christ. And he that liveth in 
this state of faith, hath the assurance that he shall 



24 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

never die, or that lie shall enjoy everlasting life in 
Christ. 

A sublime and beautiful allusion is made by the 
Eedeemer, as I understand him, to the great doc- 
trine of the union of the members of his body, 
(embracing all mankind,) with him, their head, in 
his answer to Andrew and Philip, who announced 
to him the desire of certain Greeks to see him. He 
replied as follows : " The hour has come that the 
Son of man should be glorified. Yerily, verily, I 
say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the 
ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it die it 
bringeth forth much fruit."— John 12 : 23, 24. 

Christ himself was the corn of wheat, in whom 
all the members of his body were crucified, and 
with them, he was glorified, by his resurrection 
from the dead : and thus, he bore much fruit. 

It is in order here, to consider the true import 
of the gospel message first delivered by Divine 
command to the people. First, John the Baptist 
came preaching and saying, " Eepent ye : for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand." — Matt. 3 : 1, 2. 
Second, Jesus began to preach and to say, " Eepent : 
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." — Matt. 4 : 
17. Third, the commission to the Apostles was in 
substance the same. 

Eepentance is a turning from one course of life 
and conduct to another. Also, regret and sorrow 
for past transgression. An object must be present- 
ed to the mind to induce such change, and a cause 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 25 

must be perceived and felt for such regret and 
sorrow. 

The object presented by John the Baptist as the 
inducement for the Jewish people to turn from 
their former course of life and conduct, was the 
near approach of the kingdom of heaven. Why ? 
Because the medium through which they had 
sought for acceptance with God, or for a remission 
of their sins, namely, the sacrifices and offerings 
made through their high priest, were but shadows 
of good things to come, and typical only, of the 
new and living way of acceptance and access unto 
God, through the perfect obedience, death, and 
resurrection of the Messiah, of whom he, (John) 
was the harbinger and herald. 

Then it appears that the baptism of repentance 
preached and administered by John the Baptist, 
was a public profession of faith in Christ and his 
gospel, as superseding the righteousness of the 
law, and a confession of, and turning from, their 
sins and transgressions against the good and holy 
law of God. 

And such is true and genuine repentance in all 
cases ; it is the result and fruit of faith, or belief in 
the infinitely forgiving mercy and love of God 
through Christ—which faith always works by love 
and purifies the heart ; and to love God is to hate 
sin, which is repentance unto life. Repentance, 
therefore, is not the means of grace or salvation, 
but the effect and consequence of them. 

Faith, or belief in the mercy and love of God 

2 



26 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

through. Christ, is the salvation appertaining to 
this life only, and is therefore but an " earnest of 
the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us." — 1 Pet. 
1:4. 

Therefore, both faith 'and repentance have their 
mission in the present, and not in the future im- 
mortal state. 

The repentance of the transgressor can repair 
no violated law, nor claim exemption from its 
penalty. Neither would it be pardon, or mercy, 
or kindness, to exempt the sinner from the legiti- 
mate and necessary suffering for sin, which is in 
its nature reformatory, so far as it deters from a 
repetition of the offence. 

The pardoning mercy of the gospel hath its 
origin in the eternally pre-existent love of God. 
Hence its manifestation in due time in his Son, by 
the promulgation of the gospel. The gospel is the 
new covenant which God made with the world, by 
which he promised, that " he would blot out their 
transgressions, and remember their sins and iniqui- 
ties no more forever." All which was fulfilled in 
Christ, the messenger of that covenant — the exec- 
utor, sanctifier, and sealer of it — by his sufferings, 
obedience, and death, sealing it with his blood on 
the cross. It was ratified, also, by his resurrection 
from the dead ; as saith the Apostle, " God was in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not im- 
puting their trespasses unto them." — 2 Cor. 5 : 19. 

It is therefore certain, that God does not forgive 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 27 

us because we repent, but that lie has granted or 
brought us to repentance, unto life, through the 
knowledge or belief in his infinitely forgiving 
mercy and love, as revealed in the gospel of his 
Son. 

It is equally manifest, • that neither pardon or 
repentance can exempt us from the legitimate and 
necessary suffering for sin ; and, as before re- 
marked, that such exemption would be neither 
merciful or kind. 

It is then established by Scripture testimony, 
that the pardon or remission of sins is no other 
than the exercise of the infinitely forgiving mercy 
and love of God ; and that the gospel, or new cov- 
enant, sealed by the blood of Christ shed upon the 
cross, and ratified by his resurrection from the 
dead, was its manifestation to a guilty world. 

The remission of the sins of the world was vir- 
tually proclaimed from the cross, by the suffering, 
loving, dying Son of God, when as the crowning 
glory of his mission, he cried with a loud voice, 
" It is finished." 

Such is the preaching of the cross of Christ: 
and hence, its glory : it was the altar chosen and 
appointed of God, on which, M by one offering, his 
Son perfected forever them (the members of his 
body,) which were sanctified." 

The death of Christ was the highest possible 
manifestation of infinite love, and the most perfect 
and divine example of humility. Death upon the 
cross was the most ignominious punishment, or 



23 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

suffering for sin. In the providence of God, some 
of his erring and sinning children were doomed 
thus to suffer ; and it became the head "to be 
tempted, or suffer, in all points," as do the mem- 

- of his body. (, that he might be a merciful 
and faithful high priest — that he might be touched 
with the feeling of their infirmities." Christ, there- 
fore, although in the form of God — the express 
image of his person — humbled himself, took our 
nature in its fallen, lapsed state, in which he be- 
came obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross, and was numbered with transgressors, bore 
the sin of many, and made intercession for them. 

Let every believer, therefore, cherish the holy 
memories of the Cross. They lead us to the bl 
ful contemplation of the infinite love of the Father 
and the Son, and of the blessed assurance of our 
acceptance in him. They also incite us to imitate 
his glorious example, by which we may learn 
obedience by the things which we suffer. TThat 
outward sign can so appropriate" gnate a 

stian temple of worship, as that of the Cross ? 
Having shown, as I trust, from the scriptures of 
the Old and New Testaments, that true Ohrifi 

res the world that the humanity, as members 
of Christ's body (in mass), obeyed, suffered, died, 
and rose in him to immortality and glory, and 
that the new covenant proclaims the pardon of 

ns of all men — that their sins and their 

.agressions shall be remembered no more for 
ever, it remains to prove, from the same source, as 



VEESUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 29 

the sequence, that every man, after the dissolution 
of the flesh and blood constitution, shall be 
"clothed upon with his house, which is from 
heaven, and must put on immortality. For since 
by man came death, by man came also the resur- 
rection of the dead." — 1 Cor. 15 : 21. And I 
refer to that whole chapter, as the divinely inspired 
exposition of the doctrine of the resurrection of 
all who die in Adam, or in the Adamic nature, to 
immortality and glory. 

The certainty of such resurrection is " declared 
to be, according to the scriptures," and to be de- 
monstrated by the fact of the resurrection of Christ, 
which fact was attested by the witnesses by whom 
he was seen. " First of Cephas, then of the 
twelve ; after that, he was seen of above five hun- 
dred brethren at once, of whom the greater part 
remained until the then present, but some had 
fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James ; 
then of all the apostles, and last of all, he was seen 
of Paul also, as of one born out of due time." — 
Ys. 5, 6, 7. " And if Christ be not risen, then our 
preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain. 
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, be- 
cause we have testified of God that he raised up 
Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the 
dead rise not. For, if the dead rise not, then is 
not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, 
your faith is vain, ye are yet in }~our sin. Then, 
they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are 



30 PRIMITIVE CHEISTIAXITY 

of all men most miserable. But now is Christ 
d from the dead and became the first fruits of 
them that slept. For. since by man came death, 
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all 
be made alive."' — Vs. 1-A — 22. 

This h -e shows conclusively that no less 

than all the race of Adam is spoken of in this chap- 
he subjects of the resurrection from the At 
All that die in Adam can be no oth- a all 

those who die in the Adamic nature : consequei; 

se mentioned in verse 18, as having fallen 
asleep in Christ, were no others than all who had 
died since Adam. 

"Why are we taught in veise 21, that as by man 
came death, by man came also the resurrection of 
the dead? Ans. As we nece derive our 

khly body, which is subject to death, from our 
My head, the first Adam, so must we be cloth- 
ed upon with our spiritual body, by our spiritual 
head, Christ, the second Adam. 

V. 23. But every man in his own order : Ch: 

fruits, afcerwa: ;- Christ's at 

his coming. 

Of whom rist the first fruits ? and who 

are his, and to rise at his coming? Ans. All who 
had died in Adam, and had slept in Christ : be- 
cause all were to be mad in him at hi3 
coming. Thus, the order mentioned in the text 
denotes no distinction of ci nply the 
order of time : " they that are his, 77 all who die in 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 81 

Adam, were to be made alive in him at his second 
coming. 

Y. 24. " Then cometh the end, when he shall 
have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the 
Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and 
all authority and power." 

Y. 25. "For he must reign till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet." 

Y. 26. " The last enemy that shall be destroyed 
is death." 

Yerse 23 assures us that Christ's second coming, 
and the resurrection, were to be simultaneous. If, 
then, we can assuredly determine and fix the 
period of the second coming from scripture testi- 
mony, we have also that of the resurrection. 

Let us, then, avail ourselves of the highest 
source, from which to seek instruction, which source 
is the predictions of Christ himself. 

For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of 
his Father, with his angels ; and then shall he 
reward every man according to his works. Yerily, 
I say unto you, there be some standing here w^hich 
shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of 
Man coming in his kingdom. — Matt. 16 : 27, 28. 
Immediately after the tribulation of those days 
(the destruction of Jerusalem, as all admit), shall 
the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give 
her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and 
the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ; and 
then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man ; and 
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and 



32 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

the}' shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds 
of heaven, with power and great glory. — Matt. 
24 : 29, 80. And, from the 32, 33 and 3-4 verses, 
we learn that all of which he had spoken was to 
be fulfilled before that generation should pass 
away. TTe have the same assurance of his second 
coming, immediately after the destruction of Je- 
rusalem, in Mark 24, 25, 26. These predictions 
were expressed in language highly figurative, but 
perfectly similar to that used by the prophets in 
foretelling the same events. Instance, that of the 
prophet Joel, quoted by Peter, and so applied, 
Acts 3 : 16. 21. The apostolic writings through- 
out teach us that the second appearing of Christ 
was to come during the lives of those to whom 
they wrote, which is in perfect harmony with the 
prophecy of Christ. 

Thus, it is fully manifest, from the concurrent 
testimony of Christ and his apostles, that Christ 
came the second time, immediately after the de- 
struction of the city of Jerusalem, which was the 
catastrophe of the civil and ecclesiastical polity of 
the Jewish nation. 

It was not, however, a literal and personal ap- 
pearance, but the figurative, or spiritual coming 
figuratively predicted It was a coming and an 
appearance spiritually glorious ; glorious in the 
outpouring of his holy spirit to the conversion of 
the millions both of Jews and Gentiles to the faith 
of the Gospel, — in the manifestation of his spiritual 
presence and power to heal diseases, raise the 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 33 

dead, and to show many signs and wonders, which, 
were performed in his name by his apostles. 

It was the second and also the last coming of 
Christ; — it was "the last day, — the great day of 
the Lord, — the time of the restitution of all things 
spoken by the mouth of all God's holy prophets, 
since the world began." It was indeed spiritual, 
not literal, and Christ taught the Pharisees, most 
plainly and emphatically, to look for no other than 
a spiritual second coming. — Luke, 17 : 21. 

Likewise in his last conversations with his 
apostles, he assured them that the Father would 
give them another comforter, even the spirit of 
truth. — John 14 : 16, 17. And Christ himself is 
that spirit of truth. " He is the way, the truth and 
the life." In verse 18, he saith unto them : " I will 
not leave you comfortless, I will come unto you;" 
and in verse 26 : " But the comforter, the Holy 
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he 
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to 
your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto 
you." To my humble conception, it is very clear 
that the person who, in verse 18, says, " I will 
come to you ; " is the same who, in verse 26, is 
designated as the Comforter — the Holy Ghost ; by 
which I understand Christ's disembodied spirit, 
11 whom the Father would send in his name, or as 
himself, and no other; and that he would, in spirit, 
teach them all things, and bring to their remem- 
brance whatsoever things he had said and fore- 
told, while he was with them in the flesh. Again 

2* 



34 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

John 15 : 26, 27. But when the Comforter is 
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, 
even the spirit of truth, which proceedeth from 
the Father, he shall testify of me ; and ye also, 
shall bear witness, because ye have been with me 
from the beginning. 

Here again the spirit of truth, which proceeded 
from the Father (as Christ always speaks of him- 
self to have done), testified of Christ, or (as I 
believe) that he was Christ, and of which fact the 
apostles were to bear witness. 

Furthermore : " Nevertheless, I tell you the 
truth, it is expedient for you that I go away : for 
if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." — 
16 : 7. From this passage, and from a reference 
to others relative to the same subject, I learn that 
the spiritual presence of Christ, or of his disem- 
bodied spirit — the Holy Ghost — was not to be en- 
joyed while he remained in the flesh. u The Holy 
Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was 
not yet glorified." — John 7 : 89. It was not ne- 
cessary, as long as he was in the flesh. Christ 
taught that the apostles should do greater works 
than he did, because he went unto the Father. — 
John, 1-1 : 12. Showing that his second coming 
should be more glorious than the first. To the 
same effect is the following : " And when he is 
come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of 
righteousness, and of judgment : of sin, because 
they believe not in me ; of righteousness, because 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 35 

I go unto t lie Father ; of j udgment, because the 
prince of this world is judged. I have many- 
things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them 
now. Howbeit, when he, the spirit of truth, is 
come, he will guide you into all truth : for he shall 
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, 
that shall he speak, and he will show you things 
to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive 
of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things 
that the Father hath are mine : therefore, said I, 
that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto 
you."— John 16 : 8—15. 

On this passage, I submit the following com- 
ment, to wit : That Christ, at his second coming, 
reproved, or convicted the world (the Jewish na- 
tion) of sin, because they believed not on him, 
though he had given them conclusive evidence of 
his Messiahship ; of righteousness — that he was the 
true righteousness, justification, and salvation of 
the world, foretold by their prophets, prefigured 
by their offerings and sacrifices, and that he was 
acknowledged and accepted as such by his resur- 
rection, ascension and access to the presence of 
the Father; of judgment, because the Prince, or 
head of the Jewish ecclesiastical government was 
judged, that is, his government and power was 
abolished. 

By the command of the Father, the Holy Spirit, 
the Comforter, was to glorify, or manifest himself 
as the true Messiah, the " Son of God, who was 
manifested in the flesh ;" and to take of the things 



36 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

of the Messiah, the glories of his kingdom, and 
shew them to the apostles. 

We have still further proof that Christ was 
certainly to come the second time in the spiritual 
state, in the manner of his ascension, and in the 
words of the two men, or angels, which were 
spoken to the beholders. I understand that as- 
cension to have been necessarily a translation from 
the earthly to the spiritual body, as in the instances 
of Enoch and Elijah, because it is certain that 
Christ rose bodily from the tomb, and so appeared 
to his disciples, assuring them that he was not a 
spirit, but a body, consisting of flesh and bones. 
—Luke 24 : 39. 

It is equally certain that a human body of 
11 flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of 
God " — the immortal state. — 1 Cor. 15 : 50. His 
(Christ's) departure from the world, and return to 
the Father, must, therefore, have been in the spirit- 
ual immortal state, not in a natural, but in a spirit- 
ual body. Now, the testimony of the angels was 
that, as the disciples had seen the Saviour go into 
heaven, which was spiritual, or in the spiritual 
state, so, in like manner, he would come. 

Having presented, as I conceive, abundant tes- 
timony in proof that the second advent of Christ 
was to be spiritual, and not literal and personal, 
and that lie did so come and appear, immediately 
after the destruction of Jerusalem, and that there 
was also, simultaneously, a resurrection of all the 
dead, I submit some comments, illustrative of the 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 37 

manner and the glory of that resurrection, as set 
forth in 1 Cor. chap. 15, to which I have referred, 
and also on some other corresponding passages. 

I remark first, that, as the second coming of 
Christ was spiritual and glorious, though not literal, 
visible, or personal, so was the resurrection also, 
not literal and of the earthly body, but invisible 
and spiritual, clothing the soul with a spiritual and 
glorious body. 

I have already offered some remarks upon the 
first part of the said chapter, inclusive of verse 23, 
which led me to refer to other scriptures, in order 
to show that the resurrection of the dead, of whom 
Christ is there affirmed to be the first fruits, was to 
be simultaneous with his second advent, and that 
the epoch of both was that of the destruction of 
Jerusalem, or immediately thereafter. 

I now proceed with verse 24 and onward. 

Then cometh the end, when he shall have de- 
livered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, 
when he shall have put down all rule, and all 
authority and power. 

V. 25. For he must reign till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet. 

V. 26. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is 
death. 

Then cometh the end. — "What end? Ans. The 
end of Christ's reign. — What reign? Ans. Not his 
"reign as king in Zion," for of that reign there is 
no end ; but the end of that reign during which 
"he put all enemies trade* his feet," vanquished, 



38 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

destroyed them. — What enemies? Mankind? or 
any portion of them? Certainly not; for God 
loved the world, all men, and sent Christ to save 
them. Who, then, and what did he come to de- 
stroy? Arts. Sin, and the condemnation of it; the 
condemnation of the law, which condemnation is 
"the power and sting of moral death; him (or 
it) that hath the power of death, which is the 
Devil," or Adversary. " The sting of death, mo- 
ral death, is sin, and the strength of sin (or the 
condemnation of sin) is the law." 

In what epoch of his reign did Christ destroy 
those enemies ? Am. From his assumption of the 
humanity at his baptism, by the union of the 
Holy Ghost, the spiritual Son of God (descending 
visibly, in the likeness of a dove, and resting upon 
him), with the Holy Son of Mary. " Then," said 
he, "lo I come to do thy will, God! A body 
hast thou prepared me." From that period, until 
he, as the second Adam, with the members of his 
body, had resisted, and condemned sin in the flesh, 
— yielded a perfect obedience to the divine law, — 
sealed and solemnized with his blood, on the cross, 
the new Covenant, proclaiming peace, and the 
remission of the sins of the world, — had risen and 
ascended to the Father, presenting in himself the 
redeemed humanity, saying : " Behold I and the 
children which thou hast given me, thus delivering 
up the kingdom (the humanity) to God, even the 
Father, that he might be all and in all, reconciling 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 39 

the world unto himself, not imputing their tres- 
passes unto them." 

Thus ended the first and visible reign of Christ 
in the flesh. Such were the blessings and glory 
which followed the first advent of the Son of God. 
His second coming, in his spiritual glory and the 
glory of his Father, was followed by the resurrec- 
tion of the dead. All who had died in Adam, or 
who had fallen asleep in Christ, which was the 
state in which all had remained from Adam to that 
period. In v. 18 of the chapter, I understand 
those who had fallen asleep in Christ, to include 
all who had died in Adam, because all awoke or 
were made alive in Christ. 

The great question now arises, as stated in v. 35, 
" How are the dead raised up ? and with what 
body do they come ? Ans. That which we sow is 
not quickened except it die, and we sow not that 
body that shall be, but bear grain : it may chance 
of wheat, or some other grain. But God giveth it 
a body as it hath pleased hiro," and to every seed 
his own body.— Y. 36, 37, 38. 

By which admirable simile, I think we are most 
clearly taught, that the soul which is clothed with 
a body of flesh, as is the germ in the kernel of 
wheat, by that portion of it which must die or 
perish before it can enter into a new life ; so must 
the soul be disrobed by death of its earthly body, 
before it can be reorganized or clothed upon with 
its spiritual body. And as the new life of the 
kernel, or its germ, is a development rather than a 



40 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

new creation of its powers, so will the spiritual 
body be a more perfect organization, and conducive 
to a higher development of the immortal powers 
of the soul. The dissolution, therefore, of the 
human as well as of the vegetable body, is a neces- 
sary preparation for a new life. 

V. 89 — 41, show that as there are in nature dif- 
ferently constituted bodies, some of which are of a 
higher order, or are more glorious than others, so 
in the resurrection the spiritual body is more glo- 
rious than the earthly. Ys. 42 — 44 affirm, that we 
are sown in corruption and raised in incorruption — 
sown in dishonor and raised in glory — sown in 
weakness and raised in power — sown a natural 
body and raised a spiritual body. From vs. 45 — 
49, it is perfectly clear, as I have in substance re- 
marked, on v. 21 of this chapter, that as we in- 
herit the earthly perishing body from the first 
Adam, our earthly head, so do we derive from the 
second Adam, our spiritual head, a spiritual, im- 
mortal, and glorious body. So that we shall bear 
the image, and be as perfectly in the likeness of 
Christ, our spiritual head, the second Adam, as we 
have borne the image and likeness of the first 
Adam, our earthly head. 

Vs. 50 — 54, teach us that it is impossible, in the 
very nature of things, for a body of flesh and blood 
to exist in the spiritual immortal state; and conse- 
quently, that those who should survive the period 
of Christ's second coming, and the simultaneous 
resurrection of those who had slept in him, or who 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 41 

had died since Adam, would be instantaneously 
changed at death, from the earthly and corruptible 
to the immortal, incorruptible state. That it would 
not be necessary that any should thereafter sleep 
in Christ, as all had done from Adam, until the 
coming of him who is the resurrection and the life. 

The sounding of the trumpet, and the trump of 
God, are terms which I understand to be figura- 
tively used in v. 52, as they are also in 1 Thess. 4 : 
14 — 17; (on which passage I shall here remark,) 
and in both instances, to signify a spiritual mani- 
festation of the presence of the Son of God in his 
glory, and the glory of his Father, with power to 
quicken or awaken the dead who had died in 
Adam, and slept in Christ, to life, immortality, and 
glory. It is most clearly an allusion of the Apostle 
to the " sounding of the trumpet," loud and long, 
and the voice of God, announcing his glorious pre- 
sence upon Mount Sinai. — Ex. 19 : 18, 19. It must 
be clear to all, that the Apostle did not speak of a 
literal trumpet, by sounding of which, the literal 
bodies of the dead were to be raised. 

In the passage above alluded to, the Apostle 
argues the certainty of Christ's coming, during the 
lives of some of those to whom he wrote, to quick- 
en and awaken those who had slept in him, (who 
had died since Adam) from the fact of his (Christ's) 
own resurrection, as follows: "For, if we believe 
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also 
that sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him." — 
1 Thess. 4 : 14. In v. 15, he assures us by the 



42 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

word of the Lord, that those who survived until 
Christ's second coining, would not prevent or delay 
the resurrection of those who were asleep, or who 
had deceased. — V. 15. 

Y. 16. " For the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, and with a voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God : and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first. 

V. 17. " Then we which are alive and remain, 
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, 
to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever 
be with the Lord." 

The descending of the Lord from heaven with a 
shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and the 
trump of God, are, as has been remarked, figura- 
tively expressive of the spiritual glory and power 
of the second coming of Christ, which was very 
plainly typified by the visible symbolical appear- 
ance of the glory of God upon Mount Sinai, and 
the literal sound of the trumpet, and the audible 
voice of God ; from the description of which scene, 
and exhibition of the divine majestj 7 , I understand 
the language employed in this, as well as its cor- 
responding passage, 1 Cor. 15 : 52, to have been 
borrowed. 

The dead in Christ shall rise first; then, we 
which are alive and remain, shall be caught 
up together with them in the clouds. The 
order here is, that those who had slept in 
Christ, or who had died in Adam, should be 
quickened, — awakened to life and immortality, 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 43 

and that those who remained alive, should be 
changed, not immediately, by translation, as were 
Enoch and Elijah, (there were no such translations 
of which we have any account, and the Apostles 
themselves died a natural, or rather violent death,) 
but at the time of the decease of each person so 
remaining. 

To be caught np together with them who had 
slept in Christ, cannot therefore be understood to 
mean a simultaneous change of the living, but 
rather ' that at death, in all future time, all should 
be changed to the same state of immortality and 
glory, that they might ever be with the Lord. I 
am impelled to this understanding of these pas- 
sages, by the fact which I consider abundantly es- 
tablished, namely, that there was certainly a resur- 
rection, though spiritual and invisible, of all the 
dead, as predicted by Christ and the Apostles, im- 
mediately after the catastrophe of the Jewish 
nation and polity, by the destruction of their city 
and temple, and their utter dispersion by the 
Eomans. 

If we restrict the application of the saying, — 
a we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed 
in a moment, at the last trump," — to those (Apos- 
tles and others) which should be living at that 
time, we fix and determine definitely, certainly, 
and literally, the extinction of earthly, human ex- 
istence at the same period ; but if we apply the 
saying and the truth to that and all future genera- 
tions, the doctrine taught is, that men were never 



44 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

after to sleep in death, or " sleep in Christ," but 

would, " by the power of HIS resurrection," be 
changed at death, " from corruption to incorrup- 
tion, from dishonor to glory, from weakness to 
power, from a natural to a spiritual body, from the 
likeness of the earthly to the likeness of the hea- 
venly man — the Lord from heaven. 

" Then shall be brought to pass, the saying that 
is written : — Death is swallowed up in victory. O 
death, where is thy sting? grave, where is thy 
victory ? 

" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of 
sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who giveth 
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." — 
1 Cor. 15 : 54 — 57. 

11 The sting of death is sin," because guilt and 
fear (which hath torment) are the effects of sin, 
and we fear, if unbelievers, to look beyond death, 
because we fear to approach the presence of God. 
The strength of sin is the law, because the law 
condemns sin, and hence our sense of guilt. God 
giveth us the victory over this sting, or fear, by 
the proclamation of the gospel or new covenant, 
which assures us of the pardon and remission of 
our sins, through the obedience, suffering, and 
death of Christ, as our head, of whose body we 
are the members, and by our faith in this gospel 
we rejoice that we are made accepted in the belov- 
ed; and we have a triumphant victory over the 
grave in our faith in Christ's resurrection, " for we 
believe that God raised up Jesus our Lord from the 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 45 

dead, and will therefore raise up, or quicken us 
also, by Jesus." 

Thus we have reached the glorious consumma- 
tion of " the purpose and grace of God, which was 
given to the humanity, in Christ, before the world be- 
gan," which grace was promised to Adam and his 
posterity before ; and to Abraham, Moses, and the 
prophets, after the deluge. The fulfilment of which 
promise is developed and proved by the Scriptures 
of the Old and New Testaments, with which 
Scriptures, as well as with the character and attri- 
butes of God, I most sincerely believe the views 
and doctrines set forth in this work, are in perfect 
harmony. 

Such, I believe, is primitive Christianity, and 
that no consistent and just interpretation of the 
divine testimonies, can disprove it: and I feel a 
triumphant assurance, that it cannot be shown to 
conflict with any of the divine attributes, as they 
are understood and acknowledged by all Christian 
sects, viz., Almighty power, infinite wisdom, justice, 
goodness, love, and mercy, — which attributes are 
the true and only infallible test by which to try all 
creeds, system, doctrines, and commentaries, what- 
soever. 

If such, then, is indeed the Christianity of the 
Bible, it assures the world that there is ONE God, 
the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, his Son, 
by whom and for whom all things were created, 
who was constituted, by the Father, the head of a 
spiritual nature and race of spiritual existences, 



46 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

and that, by his incarnation, he became the second 
Adam, and head also of the earthly nature and 
race of human existences, which, having been 
united, in their creation in Adam, each with a 
spiritual existence from Christ, individually inherit, 
from Adam, the attributes of humanity, and from 
Christ, the attributes of spiritual existence, in the 
image of God ; that the Son of God inherited from 
the Father, power, both to create all things, and to 
redeem the humanity from its lapsed and fallen 
state of moral death, and also to raise it from a 
state of earthly existence (and consequent liability 
to dissolution) to immortality and glory, which 
salvation and glorification of the humanity is but 
the natural and certain result of its relation to 
God through Christ, he being the head of every 
man, and God, the Father of all. Can all this be 
true? Can such be, in fact, the result of the pur- 
pose and grace of God in his Son, concerning the 
members both of his spiritual and natural body — 
concerning that world which the Father so loved 
as to send his Son to save it ? 

I ask, in humble, holy triumph, can there be, by 
possibility, any other final result not in direct and 
eternal conflict with the character, and with every 
attribute of God ? 

If, then, the gospel of God, our Saviour, is but 
the proclamation of his infinitely forgiving mercy 
and love, the blotting out and remission of the sins 
of the world, is not the knowledge, or belief of 
that gospel the true and only cause of love to God 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 47 

in return ? "Do we not love God because he first 
loved us?" and if we love God, do we not, there- 
fore, hate and repent of our sins ? It is as certain 
that the answer to these questions is in the affirm- 
ative, as that causes are adequate to their effects. 
Then is it also certain that neither fear nor punish- 
ment is ever the cause of true repentance. The 
gift of the Holy Ghost (the spirit of Christ, the 
spirit of love) to the Gentiles, was giving, or grant- 
ing them repentance unto life. — Acts 11 : 18. 

Such, then, is the gospel of our salvation, accord- 
ing to the scriptures, and it "is worthy of all ac- 
ceptation." Thus is the humanity " begotten to a 
lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, un- 
dented, and that fadeth not away, reserved in 
heaven for us." — 1 Pet. 1 : 4. 

Shall not the knowledge of, or faith in that hope 
sanctify and bless the world (all who believe) with 
love to God and man, and " with repentance unto 
life?" 

I proceed further to elucidate and offer additional 
proof of the universal and individual membership 
of our race, of Christ's spiritual as well as of his 
natural or human body. 



48 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 



CHAPTER III. 

All Christians believe in the existence of in- 
herent moral light, or conscience in every man, 
ever approving the right and the true, and con- 
demning the iniquitous and the false. u The Gen- 
tiles, who had no written law, were a law unto 
themselves : the work of the law being written in 
their hearts." — Rom. 2 : 14, 15. From whence is 
this spirit of truth arid righteousness existing in 
the universal mind, but from him who " is the 
light of every man that cometh into the world?" 
What is " the law of the spirit of life, or the prin- 
ciple of life in us, but Christ in us, the hope of 
glory?"' If, then, that spirit of life, or Christ, 
existed in the Gentiles, it is a just inference that it 
exists universally. Calvinists affirm that the Elect 
were chosen in Christ before the world began ; if 
so, they, then, existed in him. Quakers teach that 
every man has a light within him, which is of 
Christ — it is, then, a spiritual existence, participant 
of him. 

It having been shown, as I conceive, to be a 
scripture doctrine, that the humanity sinned in 
mass with Adam, its earthly head, and, in like 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 49 

manner, suffered the just and necessary effects 
thereof; that, in Christ, by virtue of a like exist- 
ence in him, by means of his incarnation, they 
participate in his obedience, death and resurrec- 
tion ; I propose to show that it is equally true that 
we must individually suffer the legitimate and 
certain consequences of our transgressions in our 
own persons, that we must reap as we sow, and in 
the field where we have sowed. "We must re- 
ceive in ourselves the recompense of our error 
which is meet."— Eom. 1 : 27. 

11 The righteous are recompensed in the earth, 
much more the wicked and the sinner." — Prov. 
11 : 31. 

Sin and suffering are cause and effect. The 
cause of sin is found in the lusts of the flesh, 
which lusts incite and move us to violate our 
just obligations to God and our fellow men, which 
violation is sin (and there is no other sin), the 
effect of which is guilt, fear, conscious self degra- 
dation, moral and physical suffering, proportionate 
to the enormity of the transgression. " Every 
man is tempted and drawn away of his own lust, 
and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it 
bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, 
bringeth forth death." — Jas. 1 : 14, 15. 

If, therefore, the cause of sin and suffering exists 
alone in the lusts of the flesh, they cannot survive 
the existence of the body, because the effect neces- 
sarily ceases with the cause. 

Death, physical death, is, therefore, not an evil, 
3 



50 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

it is but the dissolution of the body of sin, or the 
sinful bod}r, of which the soul being disrobed, will 
be clothed upon with its house from heaven, a 
spiritual and glorious body, by the mighty power 
of Christ's resurrection. 

The lapse of the whole humanity in Adam, from 
a state of innocence and purity to a state of guilt 
and depravity, is no new doctrine : old school 
theologians have taught it for centuries ; but on a 
very different principle ; namely, that we derive 
our accountability, for the Adamic transgression, 
from our being only representatively in him ; 
whereas, according to my understanding of the 
scriptures, our participation in his guilt results 
from the perfect oneness of the head and members 
of the body. 

The restoration of our race, or a portion of it, to 
holiness and happiness, by the obedience and death 
of Christ, is also a cardinal doctrine of the same 
school, but the efficacy of that obedience and death 
reach us only by imputation and substitution ; 
whereas the scriptures, as I understand them, teach 
that we derive the benefit of that efficacy from our 
oneness with Christ, as members of his body. 

The doctrine of the substitutional sufferings of 
the innocent for those of the guilty, I conceive to 
be as unjust as the transfer of merit from a 
righteous to an unrighteous party is absurd. We 
could not be responsible for Adam's transgression, 
if he was no more than our representative, in as 
much as we had no agency in his appointment as 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 51 

such. Neither can we profit by the imputation, or 
transfer of Christ's righteousness to us, if we still 
remain morally impure and sinful. A just and 
righteous law cannot inflict punishment, but upon 
the offending party. If it punish the innocent, 
and clear the guilty, an eternal principle of right 
is violated in both cases. But the head and mem- 
bers participate alike in the merit or demerit of good 
or evil actions, by virtue of their oneness and 
identity. 

Primitive Christianity, as set forth in this work, 
may be thoroughly tested by showing its harmony 
with the attributes of God — his almighty power, 
infinite wisdom, justice, goodness, and love — which 
attributes harmonize and blend in one. The de- 
sign and purpose in creation was therefore infinitely 
good. Ultimate eternal good is eternal happiness. 
Ultimate eternal evil is eternal unhappiness — 
misery. The divine purpose will certainly be ac- 
complished ; all must, therefore, be eternally happy e 
Primitive Christianity is in harmony with the divine 
purpose and attributes, and is therefore true. Par- 
tial salvation is at issue with the attributes and 
purpose of God, and cannot therefore be true. 

The infinite justice of God forbids and con- 
demns the voluntary creation of a single being 
(not to mention innumerable millions of immortal 
existences) with the knowledge that such existence 
would certainly ultimate in infinite evil to the 
created. The infinite love of God, which is his 
name and nature, is conclusive evidence that he 



52 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

cannot do that which, in its very nature, is infinitely 
malevolent. Moreover, the justice of God is his 
impartiality, which also forbids a partial salvation 
— his wisdom and power being equally adequate 
to the salvation of all. 

Having, as I trust, proved the universal appli- 
cability of the provisions and promises of the gos- 
pel, by its harmony with the divine character and 
attributes, I refer with entire confidence, for full 
and complete confirmation of that great truth, to 
the scriptures, which, being " written by holy men 
of old, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 
their true meaning must certainly harmonize in 
like manner with those attributes. 

I premise first, that I do not find a single text 
where a promise of salvation through the obe- 
dience, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ, 
is expressly, or by just inference, applicable to less 
than the whole human race. The first gospel 
sermon was preached (and with reverence, I may 
truthfully say, by the first gospel preacher,) to 
Abraham, and its blessings were promised "to all 
the families of the earth." — Gal. 3:8. " God so 
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life : for God sent not 
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but 
that the world through him might be saved." — 
John 3 : 16, 17. The restriction of the salvation 
in verse 16, to those who believed in Christ, is 
wholly omitted in verse 17, which affirms without 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 53 

condition or limit, that Christ was sent to save the 
world. I infer, therefore, that belief in Christ, or 
faith, is not put for the salvation itself, but for the 
assurance of it, or of everlasting life through 
Christ. Belief is not the thing believed, but the 
mental assurance of it. 

" For the bread of God is he which cometh 
down from heaven and giveth life unto the world." 
— John 6 : 33. " And the bread that I will give 
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the 
world." — John 6 : 51. Christ gave his flesh — his 
body — that the world, all mankind, being " mem- 
bers of his body — of his flesh and of his bones/' 
might be baptized into his death, and therefore rise 
in him to immortality and glory in the presence of 
God. 

11 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all men unto me." — John 12 : 32. He drew 
all men or lifted them as members of his body up 
with himself on the cross. 

11 Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment 
came upon all men unto condemnation, even so 
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came 
upon all men unto justification of life." — Eom. 5 : 
18. 

" For, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
all be made alive." — 1st Cor. 15 : 22. 

11 God was, in Christ, reconciling the world unto 
himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 
—2 Cor. 5 : 19. 

" That, in the dispensation of the fulness of 



54 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

times, he might gather together in one all things 
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are 
on earth, even in him." — Eph. 1 : 10. 

" And that he might reconcile both unto God in 
one body on the cross." — Eph. 2 : 16. " For there 
is one God, and one mediator between God and 
men — the man Christ Jesus — who gave himself a 
ransom for all men to be testified in due time." — 
1 Tim. 2 : 5, 6. u But we see Jesus, who was made 
a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of 
death, crowned with glory and honor ; that he, by 
the grace of God, should taste death for every 
man." — Heb. 2:9. " And he is the propitiation for 
our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the 
sins of the whole world." — 1st Ep. John, 2 : 2. 

" And we have seen and do testify that the 
Father sent the Son to be the saviour of the 
world."— 1st Ep. John, 4 : 14. 

This array of texts, fifteen in number, is but a 
portion of the direct, clear, and unqualified scrip- 
ture testimonies, in proof of the final holiness and 
happiness of every child of Adam ; and not one of 
them is found to conflict, in their literal import, 
with either of the divine attributes. 

Can the advocates of a partial salvation, and of 
the eternal torments of the unrepenting and unbe- 
lieving, adduce, even a single passage, which, as 
they apply it, is not at war with those attributes ? 
I might here refer to that class of texts for the 
purpose of controverting the justness of their ap- 
plication of them ; but such an attempt, however 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 55 

successful might be the result, is rendered wholly 
unnecessary by the palpable truth that those scrip- 
tures could not have been given for the purpose 
of maligning the divine character, or annulling his 
essential attributes, or of conflicting with those 
testimonies which justify the former and harmonize 
with the latter. 

All threatenings, denunciations, and expressions 
of the wrath, anger, and vengeance of the Deity, 
found in scripture, however fearfully and awfully 
announced, are to be regarded as faithful and 
merciful warnings of the transgressor, — not as the 
evidence of wrath, hatred, and vengeance, existing 
in God as a passion, as they are found in sinful and 
depraved man. 

It is not more important to a lost world that the 
promises of the gospel are of universal application 
than that they are wholly unconditional : neither 
faith or repentance, or any works of the creature, 
or the absence of them all, can in the least affect 
the certainty of their accomplishment. " For all 
the promises of God, in Christ, are yea, and in him 
amen, to the glory of God."— 2 Cor. 1 : 20. 

There are promises, however, of the enjoyment 
of salvation pertaining to this life only, which are 
wholly conditional. The enjoyment of an assur- 
ance of the remission of our sins, and our accept- 
ance with God in and through Christ, is promised 
to us on condition of our believing the gospel — 
" the record which God hath given us of his Son, 
which record is that God hath given to us eternal 



56 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

life, and this life is in his Son." In other language, 
11 to obey from the heart that form of doctrine (the 
gospel) which was delivered to us." In a word, 
all promises of good to be enjoyed in this life are 
conditional, and all those of the life which is to 
come are unconditional. 

We have now to answer the universal objection 
to a simultaneous cessation of the cause and effect 
of sin, and the change from the natural, corrupt 
and sinful condition to the spiritual, incorruptible, 
holy, immortal happy state, at, or immediately 
after death. That sin is the cause of suffering, all 
admit. I have before proved, as I trust, that sin 
exists only in the flesh and blood constitution ; the 
dissolution of that constitution, therefore, destroys 
sin. The cause is removed, the effect must cease. 
But it is objected that sin is not adequately 
punished in this life, and, therefore, suffering must 
continue until expiation is made. I reply that the 
doctrine of expiation, which implies vindictive 
punishment, is eroneous and absurd, at issue both 
with justice and mercy, and that those attributes 
can admit only of the correction and chastisement 
of the transgressor designed for his reformation, 
and, incidentally, to warn others of the conse- 
quences of sin, not to gratify the evil passion of 
anger or revenge. Punishment can repair no 
violated law. Just and good laws have for their 
object the good and well being of those for whom 
they are enacted. The violation of them iujures 
the sinner, not the law, or the author of it. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 57 

"Who is the rightful judge of the just measure, 
and duration of suffering for sin? If God, who 
has forgiven the sins of the world, and reconciled 
it to himself in Christ, and by the covenant which 
Christ has sealed with his blood, declared that he 
will remember them no more for ever, and has 
promised to " raise that which is sown in corrup- 
tion in incorruption, and that which is sown in 
dishonor in glory, and that such change shall be 
instantaneous, immediately after death," who shall 
"say unto him, what doest thou?" " Shall our 
eye be evil because he is infinitely merciful and 
good ?" Shall not he, " w T ho is rich in mercy, for 
the great love, wherewith he loves those who are 
dead in sins, have our consent to quicken them, 
make them alive, holy and happy in Christ, im- 
mediately after death ? If such change must be 
deferred until full expiation is made by the inflic- 
tion of a certain measure of punishment, in the 
future state, on some sinners, what shall exempt 
any sinner (and all are sinners) from such expiation? 
Shall his good works, which are but filthy rags ? 
shall his faith, or repentance, both are the free gift 
of God, for which he can claim no merit, nor do 
they in the least atone for his sins ? 

Why should those, even of the most virtuous 
and pious life, object to the immediate change of 
their wicked neighbors, at death, from a sinful, 
depraved and suffering state, to a pure, holy and 
happy immortality? Why not rejoice over them, 
as do the angels in heaven, even over one sinner 

3* 



58 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

that repenteth on earth? Moreover, neither in- 
flictions or chastenings ever produce true re- 
pentance, nntil the subjects of them understand 
that they are the evidences of the love of him who 
administers them ; and then, the sanctifying power 
is in the love, and not in the suffering; and not till 
then can the sinner iove the author of such chas- 
tisements; and then, not for the sufferings, but for 
the love that inflicted them. So, that love has all 
the power and all the glory, in every sanctifying 
and saving process. 

So, then, if the chief of sinners, ceasing not to 
violate and to suffer the penalty of God's righteous 
laws until death, which is the destruction of his 
sinful and sinning body, shall then be changed, 
made alive in Christ, clothed with a spiritual and 
glorious body like unto his (Christ's), he shall 
know and feel that all chastisements for the violation 
of Cod's laws, were but evidences of infinite love 
and mercy, for which he will bless and praise him 
for ever ; and so will he hate sin and love holiness, 
which is repentance unto life eternal. 

Then, will the goodness, wisdom and love of the 
Father and the Son be glorified in the redemption 
and salvation of the chief, as well as of all sinners, 
and " there will be joy in heaven over all." 

"Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. The 
chief of sinners is a child, an heir of God, and 
joint heir with Christ. Abraham, Noah, Daniel 
and Job have no higher claims. 

Let there be, then, no fears entertained, even by 



VE1 3PULAB THEOLOGY. 59 

those of the highest moral attainments, that their 
neighbors will not suffer fully and justly for their 
sins ; nor let them boast that, under the same cir- 
cumstances, they would have been less sinful than 
the chief of sinners. 

Xeither let there be any alarm for the conse- 
quences of declaring the whole counsel of God. 
Xo longer may it be urged that, in the absence of 
the fear of eternal torments, men will throw the 
reins loose upon the necks of their lusts ; what do 
they now, under the influence of that fear, and 
all the penalties of human enactments beside ? In 
spite of both, our prisons are filled to overflowing, 
and crime is steadily increasing. But what would 
be the condition of society under no other re- 
straint than the fear of future punishment ? Can 
we, for a moment, doubt but that violence, anarchy 
and destruction of life and property would be 
universal ? 

It is to the fear of present immediate punish- 
ment, that society chiefly owes its exemption from 
those evils. 

Furthermore : to declare the whole counsel of 
God, concerning sin and its 3, is to warn the 

transgressor that ;, his punishment lingereth not: 
that his damnation slumbereth not ; that he shall 
be recompensed in the earth, and shall receive in 
himself the recompense of his error which is meet,'' 
and there is no escape. If he cease not to sin. bo 
Ions: shall he suffer. The termination of both at 



60 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

death affects not in the least degree the certainty 
of his punishment here. 

The assurance given in the gospel of the in- 
finitely forgiving mercy and love of God through 
Christ, and of his purpose, pursuant to that love, 
to change all, at death, from corruption to incor- 
ruptiom, — from dishonor to glory, — from a natural 
and sinful to a spiritual and glorious body, will 
certainly, if it be believed, even by the chief of 
sinners, sanctify and bless him, with repentance 
unto life. If he does not believe it, it can have 
no effect upon him. 

It is in the very nature of things certain, that 
love to God can only result from the knowledge, 
or belief that he first loved us ; and, vice versa, if 
we know, or believe that God first loved us, we 
certainly love him in return. It is also certain 
that to love God, is to hate sin ; and to hate sin, is 
to repent that we have sinned ; to repent that we 
have sinned, is to desire to sin no more. Such, 
then, we repeat, is true repentance, or " repentance 
unto life." 

There is a repentance not unto life. If we re- 
pent that we have sinned because we suffer, or fear 
that we shall suffer for it, then it is the suffering 
we hate — not the sin. 

Apprehensions are entertained by some, that the 
assurance that suffering as well as sin shall cease at 
death, may be a temptation to suicide. It cannot 
be so if true, because truth is never promotive of 
evil. The usual causes of suicide are insanity, 



VEKSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 61 

desperation, and despair: we believe it is not 
known to have been committed under the influ- 
ence of the assurance of entering into a happy 
state. Such an assurance is a perfect antidote 
to despair, and an unfailing support under the 
severest trials and afflictions. 

On the terms, Hell and Devil, which are figura- 
tively and variously used and applied in the scrip- 
tures, I have only to remark, that from the light 
I derive from that source, and from the ablest criti- 
cisms I have seen in relation to those words, I un- 
derstand the former as expressive of a state of 
darkness, unconsciousness, or the sleep in death — 
the state of all the dead, who died from the crea- 
tion to the second or spiritual coming of Christ, 
and who were then "made alive in him" — raised 
to immortality and glory. Also, a state of moral 
darkness, degradation, suffering, and wretchedness, 
in this life, consequent upon transgression and sin 
— simply a state, not a place — not a location, either 
in the sea, or earth, or air. There are several 
passages in the New Testament which import suf- 
fering beyond this life — as in Luke 16 : 19, and 
Mat. 5 : 29 — but in language highly figurative, 
which I cannot of course interpret literally, and as 
directly conflicting with other scriptures establish- 
ing the impossibility either of sin or suffering after 
death. 

The scripture application of the term Devil, is 
so exceedingly various, being applied to all manner 
of diseases and maladies, both mental and physical 



62 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

— to bad men and evil propensities or principles, 
(which last, I believe, is meant by the term spirits 
— the term ghost, or angel, being usually employed 
to designate spiritual personal existences,) — that I 
cannot possibly discover any evidence of the exist- 
ence of a spiritual, omnipresent being, pervading 
universally both matter and mind, attributes per- 
taining to Deity alone. I understand, therefore, 
that the language of scripture does in no case im- 
port more than a personification of evil — of all that 
is adverse to the will of God, and the happiness of 
his children. 

To ascribe to the Deity the creation or appoint- 
ment of a place for the infliction of endless tor- 
ments upon his helpless offspring, and of a Devil 
also, with the disposition and power to tempt, de- 
ceive, and decoy them thither, for the infernal 
pleasure of executing those inflictions, is blas- 
phemy in the first degree. It is however to be 
lamented, that in substance, the monstrous doc- 
trine is embodied in some popular creeds. Yet, 
charity, and a due respect for the piety and general 
excellence of character of these denominations, as- 
sure me that in no instance is that embodiment un- 
derstandingly believed or taught. It being, then, 
so nearly obsolete, and too impious to be believed 
and inculcated, it is hoped that it may shortly 
be expunged and disappear from every religious 
creed. 

Having presented the faith and doctrines of 
primitive Christianity, as in strong contrast with a 



/ 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 63 

portion of the religious tenets of the present day, 
it may be profitable to advert to the lives and 
practices of primitive Christians, which were also 
strikingly dissimilar, especially in their simplicity, 
spirituality, and independence, of all worldly or 
temporal aggrandizement. 

The Church at Jerusalem was the first gospel 
Church, consisting of the first believers in Christ 
as the Son of God having come in the flesh. It 
included the disciples, both of John the Baptist 
and of Christ. It was certainly a Baptist Church, 
its members being all baptized — immersed — 
washed — not sprinkled. It was also the Catholic 
Church, because it was the true and universal 
Church — opening its doors (after the resurrection 
of Christ) to all the world. It was "the Church 
of the first-born," or the first-born gospel Church, 
of which John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, 
spake, when they preached, saying, "Bepent, for 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It was il the 
Mountain of the Lord's House, established in the 
top of the mountains, that all nations might flow 
unto it, — that many people might say, come, and 
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the 
house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us 
of his ways, and we will walk in his paths : for 
out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word 
of the Lord from Jerusalem." — Isa. 2 : 2, 3. It 
was the heavenly Jerusalem which is the mother 
of us all. It was that portion of the Jewish nation 
which was designated os "the remnant, according 



64 PKIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

to the election of grace — a people made ready 
and prepared for the Lord." — Luke 1 : 17. It was 
" foreknown and predestined to be conformed to the 
image of Christ, that he (Christ) might be the first- 
born among many brethren." — Eom. 8 : 29. It 
was "God's elect," chosen from among Christ's bre- 
thren according to the flesh. It was the general 
assembly and Church of the first-born. Its mem- 
bers were the spirits of just men made perfect, or 
spiritual men made perfectly just, in Christ. 

Such was the first gospel Church — the Church 
at Jerusalem; — and " their sound" — the sound of 
the gospel — " has gone out into all the earth." 

Why was it a gospel Church ? Simply because 
of its faith or belief that Jesus was the Messiah — 
the Son of God, who "had come in the flesh" — 
that he was about to set up a new kingdom, which 
was to supersede the legal dispensation. Which 
kingdom was at hand, but did not fully come until 
the Mosaic economy was abolished. Until which 
period all the rites, ceremonies, and requirements 
of that dispensation, were to be fully kept, and 
were faithfully observed by the disciples as Christ 
himself commanded. The glorious spirituality of 
this kingdom was therefore not fully revealed to 
the Church until Jesus was glorified and the Holy 
Ghost given, whom the Father was to send in his 
name, or as Jesus himself, in his spiritual disem- 
bodied state. That first Church was in fact a re- 
generation of the Jewish Church — a Church born 
anew — born again. Hence, Christ said to his 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 65 

apostles, "You that have followed me in the re- 
generation, when the Son of man shall sit in the 
throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve 
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." — Mat. 
19 : 28. Which prophecy of Christ was figura- 
tively fulfilled at his second spiritual coming, and 
the coming into the gospel Church of the fullness 
of the Gentiles ; the twelve apostles did so reign 
with Christ over the twelve tribes of spiritual 
Israel. Judging, giving to them laws, precepts, 
and ordinances, and the Christian Church is still, 
or ought to be, under the same government. 

The first or new-born Church, were "begotten 
again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorrupti- 
ble, undefiled," &c. The day star only had risen 
in their hearts ; and they enjoyed but the dawn of 
the gospel day until the Holy Grhost was given. 
He, Christ, in his disembodied state, " did not 
leave them comfortless, but came to them as he 
had promised." Instance the announcement of his 
presence by " the sound from heaven of a rushing, 
mighty wind, filling the house where they were 
sitting, and also by the appearance of cloven 
tongues of fire, and filling them all with his 
spirit" — Acts 2 : 2, 8, 4 ; continuing to instruct 
them concerning the spiritual nature, extent, and 
glory of his kingdom, and the approaching manifes- 
tation of his full and glorious spiritual power, and the 
nature and manner of the resurrection of the dead ; 
assuring them, as we learn from the writings of 



66 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

the apostles, that all would be accomplished during 
the lives of some of the then present generation. 

Such was the origin and development of the 
first Christian Church. Germinating under the 
ministry of John the Baptist, "who was sent to 
make ready a people for the Lord/ 7 and to herald 
the approach of the Lamb of God, who was to 
take away the sin of the world, the faith and belief 
of his (John's) disciples that the Messiah was at 
hand, made them ready for his appearance. They 
were the wise virgins, with oil in their lamps, wait- 
ing until the bridegroom came, that they might go 
in with him to the marriage, (" they were the child- 
ren of the bride- chamber/') which marriage was 
the union of the two natures, the earthly or human, 
with the heavenly, or spiritual, constituting the 
perfect oneness of the spiritual, glorious Son of 
God, with the holy son of Mary. The unbelieving 
Jews had no oil in their lamps, no faith, and there- 
fore were not ready, and did not go in to the mar- 
riage. 

That it may be kept before the mind of the 
reader, I here repeat what in substance I have said 
before, namely, that the marriage above described 
was solemnized at Christ's baptism, which baptism 
was the ceremonial preparation for investiture with 
the priest's office. Aaron, the high priest under 
the law, was washed before he was clothed with 
the priestly garments, which were made for glory 
and beauty — expressive of the excellency and dig- 
nity of the office — after which he was anointed 
with the holy anointing oil. So Christ, being born 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 67 

under the law, observed its ceremonial require- 
ments, and was washed before he assumed the holy 
office of priest, "the priest of the Most High God, 
after the order of Melchisedek." That ordinance 
having been administered to him (Jesus), by one 
duly and divinely authorized and appointed for 
that purpose, "the heavens were opened, and the 
Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, like a 
dove, upon him, and a voice came from heaven, 
which said, thou art my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased." — Luke 3 : 22. Here was a literal 
descent of a being, an existence, in bodily shape 
like a dove, visible to the natural eye, and a voice 
from heaven, audible to the natural ear, proclaim- 
ing that being the Son of God. 

If Jesus was that Son of God before the visible 
descent of the Holy Ghost (which was the spiritual 
Son of God) upon him, why was he not so pro- 
claimed ? and why was that manifestation neces- 
sary before that proclamation was made ? Can we 
conceive of any other purpose in that miraculous 
manifestation of the Son of God, than to assure 
the world of his perfect union with the son of man, 
and that the Son of God had come to assume the 
body which his Father had prepared for him ? by 
which union, the glorious head of the spiritual 
nature, or race of spiritual existences, might also 
become the head of the earthly nature and race of 
human existences ; that he might sanctify and 
glorify that nature and race who thus became "the 
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his 



PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 



C HA PTER IF. 

To the examples and lessons of instruction 
which we have in the history of the first Christian 
Church, especially after the day of Pentecost, 
shall do well to take heed. 

The distinguishing characteristics of the primi- 
tive disciples were — first, their love to one another 
— second, their prayerful life and very frequently 
assembling together for the social enjoyment of 
that privile romotive of a vigorous faith 

and confident trust in God — third, their zeal and 
devotion to the cause :: Jhiist; : heir deep solici- 
tude and untiring efforts for the conversion of the 
world to the faith of the gospel — not for the ag- 
grandizement or in anywise the acquisition of 
worldly power and influence of the Church ; but 
that all might come to the gospel fea.<*t, and alike 
with them enjoy its consolation and drink of the 
river of water of life, which river is the love of 
God in Christ, " proceeding forth from the throne 
(the gospel Church) of God and the Lamb." M I 
Spi: himself who is King in Zion), 

nd the Bride, n — the Church — i 
come!" "and whosoever will, let him come and 
take of the water of life freely.* 1 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 69 

This example should teach us that proselytism 
for any other than a desire that others should par- 
ticipate with us in the joys of salvation, in and 
through Christ, is mercenary and hypocritical. 

The primitive Church had no reliance on any 
other means than the gospel itself, when preached 
in its native simplicity and plainness, for the con- 
version of the world, which gospel they believed 
and felt to be the power of God unto salvation. 

Did those humble, holy, and loving disciples, 
seek to allure and entice by words of man's wis- 
dom, or to attract the opulent and wealthy by 
pompous ceremonial worship and the dazzling 
splendor and magnificence of their temples ? 

No such attempt was ever made, no such desire 
intimated by the Church, the Bride, the Lamb's 
wife, in the day of her espousal. It was " a time 
of love," and love is never mercenary. 

Were such truly the characteristics of professedly 
gospel churches, in this our day ? such their pray- 
erful life and consequent vigorous faith and confi- 
dent trust in God? such their zeal and untiring 
efforts to convert men to the faith of the gospel ? 
such the disregard of worldly aggrandizement, 
power, and influence of the Church or of the de- 
nomination ? were the desire now to proselyte 
men only to the faith of the gospel, which is the 
proclamation of the pardon and the remission of 
the sins of the world, in and through Christ alone, 
and "that God is, in Christ, reconciling the world 
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 



70 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

them," would not " light break forth as the morn- 
ing, and health spring up speedily? Should we 
not be led forth with peace, and our righteousness 
go before us ?" Might not all be one fold, and one 
Shepherd? May the God of peace, that brought 
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great 
Shepherd of the sheep, speed the day ! 

In primitive times, a meeting together of any 
number of disciples in any place, had (as we have 
now) the promise of the presence of Christ, and 
such an assembly was a Christian Church, inde- 
pendently of the institution of any sacraments or 
ordinances. Their faith in the truths of the gos- 
pel was their true qualification for membership, 
and the enjoyment of all church privileges. Bap- 
tism is a public avowal or profession of gospel 
faith. It is a gospel ordinance, and was instituted 
by Christ after his resurrection. At his last inter- 
view with his apostles, he commanded them " to 
preach the gospel to all nations, and baptize them 
(all who would believe) in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." — Matt. 
28 : 19. — By which names, I understand God the 
Father, and the son of man according to the flesh, 
and the Son of God with power, according to the 
spirit of holiness ; or, as if he had said, in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, visible and 
invisible ; not that I would presume to suggest the 
use of any other than the written words, verba- 
tim,- — they are better and truer words than any 
others could be, as I understand them. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 71 

The true significancy of the ordinance, I under- 
stand to be, that we, as members of Christ's body, 
were baptized into his death, and were therefore 
participant in his resurrection ; and, as his disciples, 
we assume a new and solemn obligation, to arise 
or awake to newness of life. 

The Eucharist, or the Lord's Supper, I under- 
stand to have been an established Christian Sacra- 
ment, in the primitive Gentile Christian Church, 
by the authority of the apostle Paul, (see 1st Cor. 
11 : 23-26) but not observed by Jewish believers, 
who continued to keep the Passover, as well as the 
other Mosaic rituals, until they were all abolished 
by the termination of that dispensation at the ap- 
pearing of Christ in his spiritual kingdom, imme- 
diately after the destruction of Jerusalem. We 
may, however, as I conceive, very appropriately 
retain the great doctrinal idea expressed in the 
emblems of the passover : the Paschal Lamb was 
sublimely and eminently tj^pical of Christ — the 
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the 
world. The Hebrews in Egypt offered the blood 
of sprinkling, on the posts of their doors, as the 
evidence of their representative death, in that of 
the lamb slain ; and the passing over, or by them, 
by the destroying angel, was the evidence of their 
acceptance with God, and access to his presence. 
So is the blood of sprinkling, which was shed by 
Christ, the evidence of the death of all- mankind in 
him, and of their acceptance and access to God's 
presence. Hence the saying of Christ, "that he 



72 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

would no more eat of the passover until it should 
be fulfilled in the kingdom of God," or in, and by 
himself. 

There are other sacraments observed in the 
Eoman Catholic and Greek Churches, viz. : Con- 
firmation, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Or- 
ders, &c, which are not recognized in 'Protestant 
Churches, and for which, I believe, there are no 
examples by apostolical authority. 

The twelve apostles were the first ministers in 
the primitive Church, and were missionaries chosen 
and appointed by Christ himself. Afterward he 
appointed seventy others as missionaries also — not 
apostles. The first appointment by the apostles of 
officers in the Church, after the designation by the 
Lord, of Matthias, to fill the place vacated by the 
apostacy of Judas, was seven men, to administer its 
temporalities, — it being a community, having all 
things common. The necessary qualification for 
their office was, that they should be full of the 
Holy Ghost — the spirit of Christ, which is love 
and kindness to all — the Greek as well as the Jew ; 
so that the Grecian widows should have no further 
cause to complain that they were neglected in the 
daily ministrations. — Acts 6 : 1-6. 

Having repeatedly spoken, as I now have, of 
the term Holy Ghost, found in this passage, (and as 
I shall continue to do) as being no other than Christ 
himself in his disembodied state, I refer to some 
other passages which impel me so to speak, viz. : 
" Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 73 

you, by miracles and signs and wonders, which God 
did by him." — Acts 2 : 22. " Therefore, being by 
the right hand of God exalted, and having received 
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he 
hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." — 
V. 33. Now I cannot understand that Jesus did 
not receive the Holy Ghost until after his ascension, 
because he most certainly received it at his bap- 
tism. — Mat. 3 : 16. I therefore understand the 
apostle as teaching that the man Jesus of Nazareth, 
having, according to the promise of the Father, 
received the Holy Ghost at his baptism, whereby 
he became the Son of God, with power according 
to the spirit of holiness, did, after his resurrection 
and exaltation at the right hand of God, manifest 
the presence and power of his disembodied spirit 
on the day of Pentecost, in the cloven tongues of 
fire, which sat upon each of the believers and in 
filling them with the Holy Ghost or his holy spirit. 
Again: "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, 
that your sins may be blotted out when the time 
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
Lord."— Acts 3 : 19. 

V. 20. — " And he shall send Jesus Christ, which 
before was preached unto you : 

V. 21. — "Whom the heaven must receive until 
the time of restitution of all things, which God 
hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy pro- 
phets since the world began.'' 

"Repent, therefore, and be converted." Why? 
Ans. "Because the kingdom of heaven had come :" 

4 



74 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

therefore repent ; turn from the old to the new 
dispensation — from the works of the law by which 
you were but figuratively, representatively justi- 
fied, to the true and perfect righteousness which, 
according to the gospel, you have in Christ. And 
be converted from the shadow to the substance ; 
renounce the former, and embrace the latter, and 
be a Christian, a that your sins may be blotted out 
when the time of refreshing shall come from the 
presence of the Lord." Not that your sins may 
be blotted out because you have repented, turned, 
and believed, but that you may enjoy the assu- 
rance which is given in the gospel that they are so 
blotted out : that you may rejoice in the forgiving 
mercy and love of God, as manifested in Christ at 
this time of refreshment and assurance of his 
presence. " And he shall send Jesus Christ which 
before was preached unto you," or was foretold by 
your prophets. " Whom the heaven must receive 
until the restitution of all things, which God hath 
spoken by all his holy prophets since the world 
began." 

That restitution of all things included the re- 
generation, and restoring to its primitive purity 
the humanity which he in its mass assumed in the 
person of Jesus, as the second Adam, also its glo- 
rification — its resurrection in him to glory and im- 
mortality at the right hand of God, "where he sat 
down," until at his second coming he made his 
foes (sin and death) his footstool, when all who 
bad died in Adam were made alive in him, which, 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 75 

according to his prediction, was fulfilled imme- 
diately after the destruction of Jerusalem. 

The scriptures to which I have referred for proof 
that the son of God and the Holy Ghost are one 
and the same divine person, affirm, first, that the 
Holy Ghost which descended and rested upon 
Jesus at his baptism, was the Son of God. — Mat. 
8 : 17. Second, That the rushing, mighty wind 
which filled the house where the disciples were as- 
sembled in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, 
and the cloven tongues of fire that sat upon each 
of them, was shed forth by, and was the manifes- 
tation of, the power and presence of the same 
being — the same Holy Ghost, the Son of God. 

I understand the gift of the Holy Ghost to cer- 
tain believers in the days of the apostles to have 
been a divine afflatus, from Christ himself, confer- 
ring the knowledge of, and power to speak with, 
other tongues — to work miracles and show signs 
and wonders in his name (he breathed on his dis- 
ciples after his resurrection, and said, "Receive ye 
the Holy Ghost."— John 20 : 22), that they might 
be qualified to preach the gospel in the different 
languages of the then different nations, and at the 
same time give ocular demonstration of its divine 
authenticity and authority, by healing all diseases, 
and in many instances raising the dead. Such a 
manifestation of Christ's power was designed, and 
was necessary, to establish his spiritual kingdom 
in the world, and which he fully accomplished at 
his second coming. 



76 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

The bestowal of these miraculous powers was, 
however, not indispensably necessary to the enjoy- 
ment of a genuine gospel faith, nor were they con- 
ferred but upon a chosen few of the believers even 
of that great day of refreshing from the presence 
of the Lord ; and in those instances only, for the 
purposes above stated ; and those instances were as 
follows, viz. : First, on the day of Pentecost, about 
one hundred and twenty were filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and cloven tongues of fire sat upon each 
of them (and it should be remarked that this was 
a literal fulfilment of the prophecy of John the 
Baptist, that Christ would baptize with the Holy 
Ghost and with fire. — Acts 2 : 4). Second, some 
of the Samaritans believed, and Peter and John 
prayed and laid their hands on them, and they 
received the Holy Ghost — probably but few. — 
Acts 8 : 15. Third, The household of Cornelius 
and his near kinsmen and friends were converted 
under the preaching of Peter, and the Holy Ghost 
fell upon them. — Acts 10 : 44. Fourth, There 
were twelve disciples at Ephesus, on whom Paul 
laid his hands, and the Holy Ghost came upon 
them. — Acts 19 : 17. In all, probably, some two 
hundred and fifty. 

Of the three thousand who were converted un- 
der Peter's first sermon (Acts 2 : 41), and the five 
thousand who were converted under his second 
sermon (Acts 4 : 4), no mention is made of their 
receiving the Holy Ghost. They were convinced 
by the preaching of Peter that Jesus was the 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 77 

Christ, through whom their sins were pardoned, 
and in whom they were accepted with God ; and 
they received the word of their salvation gladly, 
and were baptized and added to the Church. 

I infer, therefore, from the history of the Church 
thus far, that the gift of the Holy Ghost with 
miraculous power was confined to the apostles and 
a chosen few of other believers, and for the spe- 
cial purpose of demonstrating the divine Sonship 
and mission of Christ, and the truth of the gospel 
of the grace of God ; and that such gifts and 
powers were continued in the Church until the 
second coming of Christ, and the permanent estab- 
lishment of his spiritual kingdom in the world; 
and that divine wisdom saw fit to continue them 
no longer, or that they were no longer necessary. 

It is, nevertheless, true, that all believers then, 
as now, received Christ 's holy spirit as the result 
or fruit of their faith, which holy spirit is love — 
love to God and all mankind ; the producing cause 
of which love is the knowledge or assurance, which 
is obtained by faith, of the love of God manifested 
in Christ. But we are to distinguish between that 
attainment and the endowment of miraculous 
powers. Holy men of old (the prophets) spake 
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (who was 
the Son of God), to foretell his coming in the flesh, 
and the glory that should follow. 

The Holy Ghost is, therefore, the spiritual Son 
of God in person, not in spirit only. His spirit is 
in nature, one with the spirit of the Father, and is 



78 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

love, and when this love is shed abroad in our 
hearts, we have thereby " fellowship, or commu- 
nion, with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. ,, 
But the Son is not, as is the Father, personally 
omnipresent. Hence, it is to the Father only that 
prayer is to be made, who is ever present to help 
in time of need. 

But we are taught by the Saviour to ask, and to 
make our petitions in his name. And why ? Be- 
cause we are in him — members constituent, both 
of his spiritual and human nature, which, by his 
incarnation, were made one body. He is the head 
of every man, and is the only begotten Son of 
God ; consequently, we are God's children only by 
virtue of such membership, and because of that 
relation, God loveth us as he loveth his Son. 

Thus is Christ the way, the truth, and the life. 
He is our only way and true medium by which 
we come to and enjoy the presence and love of the 
Father. To pray unto him (the Father), and make 
our petitions in the name of Christ, is therefore 
an unspeakable and most exalted privilege. " Be- 
hold what manner of love the Father hath be- 
stowed upon us, that we should be called the chil- 
dren of God ;" and we may pray in faith, and be 
assured that our Father will hear and answer us, 
according to his infinite love and our highest good. 

It was, as we have in substance before stated, 
our relation to, and ultimate acceptance with, God 
in and through the promised Messiah, which was 
so sublimely, though symbolically expressed and 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 79 

taught, by the institution of sacrifices and offer- 
ings under the former dispensation. 

In a word, the true relation of the humanity to 
the divinity, in and through the Son of God, is the 
theme and burden of divine revelation throughout 
the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. 

The example of the first Christians, as well as 
the oft-repeated injunctions of Christ and his 
apostles, teach us that prayer, humble, sincere, and 
earnest, is indispensable to the enjoyment of a 
living faith and a holy life. 

Of the apostolic order and government of the 
Church, the qualification of its officers and min- 
isters, it should be observed, that every departure 
from its simple adaptation to the edification of the 
body (the Church), is subversive of the sanctifying 
influence and power of true Christianity. An in- 
dispensable pre-requisite in all bishops, Presbyters, 
evangelists, pastors, or teachers, is a devotedness 
to the promulgation of the gospel of the grace of 
God; that they seek not the honor that cometh 
from man, nor to be great, only as they are the 
willing servants of all. 

It is now in order to make a practical applica- 
tion of the doctrine of the relation 'of the hu- 
manity to the divinity, for the purpose of testing 
its adaptation to the character, condition, and 
wants of the race. Causes produce their natural 
effects : love begets love, hatred produces hatred. 
Therefore, if all men were fully and understand- 
ing!} 7 assured of their filial relations to God by 



80 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

virtue of constituent membership of the nature or 
body of his Son, and that they are, therefore, the 
objects of his infinite love and tender mercy — that 
he had, pursuant to that love, sent his Son into the 
world, to manifest the same by his teachings, his 
works, his death, and resurrection; proclaiming 
peace, pardon, good will, and loving kindness to 
all mankind — love, in return, would be the certain 
and natural response of the soul ; filial, deep, and 
holy affections would rise from every heart toward 
the source from whence they came — thus " loving 
God because he first loved them." 

Thus is the love of God shed abroad in the 
heart — thus is the soul born of love, and therefore 
born of God. The immediate effect or fruit of 
such change is repentance-^turning from sin with 
loathing, regret, and sorrow. The subject of such 
change " has past from death unto life, is trans- 
lated from the kingdom of darkness into the king- 
dom of God's dear Son." He is a Christian ! 

Such is the result of faith in the doctrine of 
the relation of the humanity to the divinity in and 
by the Son of God. Such, then, must be "the 
gospel which is the power of God unto salvation." 
"Were it generally and gladly received as " the 
word of life," "the word of our salvation," every 
relation of life and society would feel its sanctify- 
ing power. Were it so received universally, the 
kingdom of God would come, and his will be done 
in a good degree, as it is done in heaven. 

We should then see and feel that every child of 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 81 

Adam, without distinction of age, sex, condition, 
color, or character, is a member both of the spiri- 
tual and human nature and body of Christ ; that, 
feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting 
the sick and the prisoner, we should in truth and 
verity minister to him who loved us, and gave 
himself for us, that he might sanctify and cleanse 
us, and present us without spot unto God and his 
Father. 

From our relation to the Father and the Son, 
all deeds of charity, giving of alms, relieving and 
mitigating the sorrows of the poor, derive their 
transcendent virtue and merit. Precious in the 
sight of God is his suffering poor, infinitely tender 
are his compassions toward them ; "He will main- 
tain their right." 

Let the humanity rejoice, therefore, rich and 
poor, bond and free, in the perfect Fatherhood of 
God, and the brotherhood of man, in their joint 
heirship with the Son of God, and in "the power 
of his resurrection," by which " the whole creation 
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, 
into the glorious liberty of the children of God." 
In and through the great head of the body, all 
things are ours ; we are Christ's, and Christ is God's. 
The world is ours, the earth, the sea, and air, share 
and share alike, it is our inheritance from our Cre- 
ator and Father, given us, however, but for a tem- 
porary use ; life being but a sojourn, a pilgrimage, 
we are to enjoy and use it only as we pass from the 

4* 



82 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

cradle to the tomb, from our earthly to our hea- 
venly inheritance. 

Such, then, should be and is the true estimate 
of all the things of earth ; all accumulations be- 
yond our wants and convenience for the journey, 
are to be appropriated to the supply of those who 
need them. Such estimate is a wholesome correc- 
tive of the disposition to covet the rightful posses- 
sions of our fellow men. 

In further proof that our relation to the Father 
of our spirits, in and through his Son, as a funda- 
mental doctrine of Christianity, I offer some notes 
and comments on such portions of Scripture as do 
not, to my humble conception, harmonize with any 
other plan of salvation. 

The last prayer of the Saviour is one of the 
class to w T hich I allude, and by w r hich we are 
taught that the Father had given him (the Son) 
power over all flesh, that he might give unto them 
eternal life. — John 17 : 2. He prayed first and 
especially for his apostles, that the Father would 
keep them in his own name, as he (Christ) had 
hitherto kept them. He had taught them that Cod 
so loved the world, that he had sent him (Christ) 
to save it. — John 3 : 16, 17. He had therefore 
kept them in the Father's love, which is his name ; 
"God is love." — 1st Ep. John, 4 : 8. His prayer 
was, therefore, that the Father would keep them in 
that name, in that love. He (Christ) afterwards 
prays that the world might know that the Father 
had sent him, and had loved them as he had loved 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 83 

him (Christ).— John 17 : 23. As the Father loveth 
the Son, so doth he love the members of his body ; 
so that as the Son is in the Father, and the Father 
in the Son, the members of Christ's body are one 
in them (the Father and the Son). — v. 21. It is 
clear that in v. 26, the name of the Father, and 
the love of the Father, are synonymous. "I have 
declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, 
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may 
be in them, and I in them." To declare his, (the 
Father's) name, therefore, was to declare his love. 
Thus it is clear and certain, that the mission of 
Christ was the revelation to the world of the 
Father's love, and being about to accomplish that 
mission by his death, he "prayed the Father to 
glorify him, that he might also glorify the Father," 
which petition was granted by the Father in 
11 raising him from the dead, and exalting him to 
be a prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and 
remission of sins." The Father was "also glori- 
fied" by "reconciling the world unto himself in 
and through his Son, not imputing their trespasses 
unto them." 



8-i PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 



CHAPTER V. 

I now submit some notes and comments on cer- 
tain portions of the apostolic writings, which, as I 
conceive, can be explained, and harmonize only 
with primitive Christianity, as set forth in this 
work. The Apostle Paul affirmed, that " he was 
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the 
power of God unto salvation to every one that be- 
lieveth : to the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles. 

" For therein is the righteousness of God revealed 
from faith to faith ; as it is written, the just live by 
faith."— Rom. 1 : 16, 17. 

There is an inherent power in the gospel, to save 
all who believe; which power is the assurance of 
the infinitely forgiving mercy and love of God, as 
revealed in and through Christ. 

M For therein is the righteousness of God reveal- 
ed from faith to faith." 

The righteousness of God is the righteousness 
which he provided in and through Christ, which 
superseded the righteousness of the law, but which 
was prefigured by the offerings and sacrifices under 
that dispensation through which the worshipers 
were taught to look to the expected Messiah for 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 85 

true justification and acceptance with God. So 
that the faith of the gospel is but a continuance or 
succession of the faith which they thus enjoyed. 

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven 
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, 
who hold the truth in unrighteousness.' 7 — v. 18. 

By the wrath of God (as before remarked) we 
are not to understand the passion of anger, but his 
righteous sentence of condemnation of all sin and 
transgression, especially of those who were favored 
with the written law ; which law they wickedly 
and utterly contemned by the commission of the 
most vile and filthy abominations, as is shown in 
the following portion of the chapter, and for which 
abominations the Apostle declares, " they received 
in themselves the recompense of their error, which 
was meet/ 7 — v. 27. And if so, it must be admitted 
that no other punishment awaited them in another 
or future life. 

The same doctrine of rewards and punishments 
in this life, is again enforced in chapter 2, viz. : 
" God will render to every man according to his 
deeds." 

" To them who by patient continuance in well 
doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, 
eternal life." 

" But unto them that are contentious and do not 
obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness ; indig- 
nation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon 
every soul of man that doeth evil. But glory, 



86 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good." 
—v. 6, 7, 8, 9. 

Here we have again the same righteous sentence 
against transgression, but no intimation of suffer- 
ing beyond death. 

" To those who by patient continuance in well- 
doing seek for glory, honor, immortality and eter- 
nal life," (or spiritual life) and to those that work 
good ; glory, honor, and peace, will be awarded, 
also in this life. Not in the life to come, because 
immortality and eternal life in that state, is " not 
of works, but of grace." 

Vs. 11, 12, teach us that God is strictly and per- 
fectly impartial, and that all men, and all nations 
shall receive alike the recompense of their errors, 
and of their virtues, in themselves. 

Vs. 14, 15, show that the work of the law, a 
principle of perfect moral rectitude, exists in all 
men, which is the true light from Christ, which 
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 

V. 16, speaks of a day in which God would 
judge or disclose the secrets of men by Jesus 
Christ, according to the gospel which Paul preached. 
The argument, in connection with which those 
words are found, is, that in the provision of the 
gospel, the Jewish nation have no preference over 
the Gentiles, nor any exemption from suffering, or 
receiving in themselves, the recompense of their 
errors and trangressions which is meet. 

The day in which that judgment or disclosure 
wns to be made, we may learn from the predictions 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 87 

of Christ, viz. : "For the Son of man shall come 
in the glory of his Father, with his angels : and 
then he shall reward every man according to his 
work. Verily I say unto you, there be some stand- 
ing here, which shall not taste of death, till they 
see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." — 
Matt. 16 : 27, 28. Again, the same coming was to 
take place immediately after the destruction of 
Jerusalem. — Matt. 24 : 29, 30. These predictions 
show, that the day of judgment spoken of in the 
text, was certainly the second coming of Christ, 
which was to be, and was, immediately after the 
destruction of Jerusalem. 

The secrets which were to be then judged, or 
disclosed, we may understand by another predic- 
tion of the Saviour, relative to his second coming, 
viz. : u that when he should so come, he would con- 
vince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of 
judgment." "Of sin, because they believed not 
on him" (but rejected and crucified him ; though 
he had given them full evidence that he was the 
Messiah.) " Of righteousness, because" he had 
risen, and ascended to his Father, and " obtained 
eternal redemption for the world." " Of judgment 
because the prince of that world (the Jewish High 
Priest or Jewish ecclesiastical authority) was judg- 
ed or abolished. 

All which was according to the gospel which 
Paul preached, which gospel was the righteous- 
ness which superseded that of the law, to which 
the Jews still adhered, and which gospel was the 



88 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

: which the Mosaic economy was but 
the shadow, an:", wafi :onsequently annulled. 

The remaining portion of the chapter char, 
the • with the abuse and consequent forfeiture 

of the spiritual light and privileges which had 
d conferred upon them, and that they had dis- 
honored the name of God by the most flagrant 
violations of his law. He also commences an ex- 
:tion of the design and use of the rite of cir- 
cumcision, which he continues in Chapter 3d. 

From the account of that ancient institution, 
may learn that it was to be a token and a memo- 
rial of the covenant which God made with Abra- 
ham and his aeed, that he would be their God, and 
s them, and that they should be his peculiar 
people. — Gen. 17:9. 10. 11. Abraham received it 
as a seal, or evidence of the righteousness of the 
faith, which he had before. — Eom. -1 : 11. 
also the evidence of the solemn engagement on 
the part of the people, to keep and obey his law, 
and to render to him, the homage of the heart and 
of the mind. 

It was but a covenant of works, he the 

provisions and bles: : which were forfeited 

by a violation of the law, either in its letter or 
spirit : and when so forfeited, the literal observance 
of the rite gave no moral preference over the un- 
circumcision. And thifi ant being ever liable 

to forfeiture on the part of the people, the Apostle 
arg; the chief and permanent advantage 

and benefit, dei from it. was omrait- 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 89 

ting to them as a covenant people, the Oracles of 
God," which containing the divine teachings of 
Moses and the Prophets, the promise of the Mes- 
siah, the knowledge of his true character, and the 
glory of his kingdom ; which he (Paul) was now 
laboring to convince them (the Jews) was being 
fulfilled in Christ ; which promise he was very 
careful to note on another occasion, was made four 
hundred and thirty years before this covenant of 
circumcision, or of works, and which it could not 
therefore disannul. — Gal. 3 : 17. The two cove- 
nants were separate and distinct, as well in their 
design, as in their provisions and promises ; the 
first being an unconditional promise and engage- 
ment on the part of the Deity, that he would bless 
not only Abraham and his seed, but all the nations 
and families of the earth, with righteousness, sanc- 
tification, and glorification, in and through his in- 
carnate Son. 

The second was a covenant wholly conditional, 
its promises and blessings to be enjoyed only as a 
reward of obedience. 

" But what if some did not believe" those oracles, 
demands the apostle (v. 3), are they therefore not 
true ? God forbid. Yea, let God be true — let us 
believe in the truth and verity of those oracles 
and promises, though every man (every Jew) dis- 
believe and reject them. " As it is written, that 
thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and 
mightest overcome when thou art judged." This 
last sentence is a quotation from Psa. 51 : 4 The 



90 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

speaker (David) confesses his transgressions, and 
prays that they may be blotted out, but acknowl- 
edges that God's judgments, pronounced against 
him by the prophets, were perfectly just — that he 
was just in what he had spoken, and the sentence 
a righteous one. 

The language thus quoted is appropriately ap- 
plied to the Jews in this case, as they had rejected 
and spurned the salvation which had been prom- 
ised, and was now revealed and proffered to them 
in Christ. It was a just retribution that the king- 
dom, their Church, state, and privileges, should be 
taken from them and given to the Gentiles — the 
very people whom they had contemned as rejected 
of God. 

" But if our unrighteousness commend the 
righteousness of God, is God unrighteous who 
taketh vengeance?" God forbid, for then how 
shall God judge the world; for if the truth of 
God hath more abounded through my lie unto his 
glory, why yet am I judged as a sinner? and not 
(rather as we be slanderously reported, and as some 
affirm that we say) let us do evil that good may 
come, " whose damnation is just." — Vs. 5, 6, 7, 8. 

By referring to chap. 11 of this Epistle, where 
the discussion of the same subject is continued, 
I think we may discover the meaning of these 
verses to be as follows, to wit : But if (as we teach) 
God designed to over-rule the unbelief and dis- 
obedience of the Jews, and their rejection and 
crucifixion of Christ, and to render all subservient 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 91 

to the accomplishment of the purposes of his grace 
as revealed in the gospel, embracing all mankind, 
is it, therefore, unjust for him to chastise them 
(the Jews) for their wickedness? God forbid, for 
then how shall he render to every man according 
to his deeds ? For if the saving power of the gos- 
pel shall be more extensively known and enjoyed 
through my denial and rejection of it, why am I 
judged as a sinner? And if evil has thus resulted 
in good, why not continue to do evil ? Answer — 
Because God alone hath the power to over-rule for 
good so much evil as his wisdom shall appoint or 
suffer to exist. 

After showing, in verses 9 to 19 inclusive, that 
all nations are sinful and alike guilty in the sight 
of God, the apostle argues (v. 20) that by the 
deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in his 
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The 
literal observance of the precepts of the law can- 
not redeem us from the guilt and condemnation of 
past transgression. Nor was the law given for 
that purpose, but for a rule of right and equity, to 
teach and define our duties to God and our fellow- 
men. 

"But now the righteousness of God, without 
the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law 
and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, 
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all, and 
upon all that believe ; for there is no difference. 
For all have sinned and come short of the glory 



92 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

of God. Being justified freely by his grace." — 
Vs. 21, 22, 23, 24. 

" The righteousness of God without the law," is 
the obedience, suffering, death, and resurrection of 
Christ our head, and we in him as the members of 
his body ; all which was prefigured by the sacri- 
fices and offerings under the law, and was foretold 
by the prophets. Such is the righteousness of 
God, in and by Christ, of which assurance is given 
in the gospel to all that believe in him, and who 
are justified, or who have the assurance of justifi- 
cation, freely by grace alone through the redemp- 
tion that is in Christ Jesus. 

" Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, 
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous- 
ness for the remission of sins that are past, through 
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this 
time his righteousness, that he might be just and 
the justifier of him that belie veth in Jesus." — Vs. 
25, 26. 

" Whom God hath set forth a propitiation." A 
reconciliation of the world to God, in and by their 
obedience, suffering, and death in himself, as mem- 
bers of his body. 

" The remission of sins that are past." All the 
sins of all the world, from Adam to Christ. 
" Through the forbearance of God." His (God's) 
forbearance with the world, for whom, according 
to his purpose and grace, he had now provided 
justification and acceptance in his Son. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 93 

11 Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified 
by faith without the deeds of the law." — V. 28. 

Faith is here put (as it frequently is) for the 
truth, or the evidence of the truth, of the gospel. 

" Is he the God of the Jews only ? Is he not 
of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also, see- 
ing it is one God which shall justify the circum- 
cision by faith and the uncircumcision through 
faith."— Vs. 29, 30. 

The gospel reveals God as truly the God of the 
Gentiles as of the Jews, seeing it is one God which 
justified or gave the assurance of justification to 
the circumcision by faith in the Messiah to come, 
and to the uncircumcision by faith in the Messiah 
as having already come. 

" Do we, then, make void the law through faith ? 
God forbid ; yea, we establish the law." — V. 31. 
We establish the law by proclaiming that all that 
was prefigured by its rites and ordinances is ful- 
filled in Christ. 

" What shall we say, then, that Abraham our 
father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found ? For 
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath 
whereof to glory, but not before God. For what 
saith the scripture ? Abraham believed God, and 
it was counted to him for righteousness." — Chap. 
4, vs. 1, 2, 3. 

To what did Abraham attain by his good works ? 
Arts. As a pattern of good works, his character 
demands the highest veneration of the world. 
But did he trust in those works for his justifica- 



94 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

tion and acceptance with God ? or were they the 
ground of his hope of a glorious resurrection to 
life and immortality? Certainly not : ''for what 
saith the scripture ? Abraham believed God, and 
it was accounted to him for righteousness." 

Here, it is very evident (as in many other in- 
stances, and as I have already remarked), faith or 
belief is put for that on which faith relies. There 
can be no merit in believing any proposition of 
the truth of which satisfactory evidence is pre- 
sented, nor demerit in refusing belief where such 
evidence is wanting. 

" Abraham believed God. ,? He believed that 
which God had told him was true. TThy ? Be- 
cause God had made himself known to him as the 
onlv true and living God. — Gen. 17:1. Abra- 
ham, therefore, believed the gospel which God 
preached to him. — Gal. 3:8. And that gospel 
assured him that himself and all nations should be 
justified and accepted with God, in and by the 
obedience, death, and resurrection of Christ. His 
(Abraham's) faith was therefore assurance to him 
of his righteousness in Christ. I am, for the above 
reasons, impelled to substitute the word assurance 
for the word accounted, or imputed, in this and 
some other passages of scripture. 

'"Xow to him that worketh is the reward not 
reckoned of grace but of debt. But to him that 
worketh not, but belie veth on him that justifieth 
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousn^ 
—Vs. 4, 5. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 95 

By v. 4j I understand that the doers of the law 
both expect and have the reward for so doing; 
which reward is not free and unmerited grace and 
favor, but is simply a reward of obedience. 

But, as in v. 5, to him that worketh not. or 
trusteth not in his own works, but in Christ, in 
and through whom the ungodly (all men) are jus- 
tified and have the remission of sins, his faith 
is counted for, or is assurance to him of righteous- 
ness. 

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of 
the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness 
without work, saying, Blessed are they whose ini- 
quities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 
Blessed is the man to whoin the Lord will not im- 
pute sin. — Vs. 6, 7, 8. These last verses are a 
quotation from Psa. 82 : 1, 2, in proof of the full- 
ness and freeness of gospel grace, and the blotting 
out or remission of the sins of the world through 
Christ. 

11 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circum- 
cision only, or upon the uncircumcision also ? for 
we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for 
righteousness. How was it then reckoned ? — when 
he was in circumcision or uncircumcision ? Not in 
circumcision, but in uncircumcision ; and he re- 
ceived the sign of circumcision as a seal of the 
righteousness of the faith which he had — being 
uncircumcised — that he might be the father of all 
them that believe, though they be not circumcised, 



96 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

that righteousness might be imputed unto them 
also. 1 '— V. 9, 10, 11. 

Having illustrated and proved that the promise 
to Abraham of gospel grace and salvation was 
wholly unconditional and irrespective of works, 
the apostle proceeds to show that such promise 
was antecedent to the institution of the rite of cir- 
cumcision, and the covenant of works made ex- 
clusively with his (Abraham's) posterity, and could 
not, therefore, be restricted to that nation. He 
asks, v. 9, Cometh this blessedness, then, upon the 
circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision 
also ? and argues, in vs. 10, 11, that both the cir- 
cumcision and uncircumcision were alike included, 
in the first covenant and its blessings ; and that, 
although the second covenant was solemnized and 
sealed by circumcision in the flesh, yet it was to 
Abraham not only a literal, outward sign and seal 
of the covenant of works, but expressive also of 
his faith in the promise of the spiritual blessings 
of the gospel or covenant of grace ; and which 
promise (as before observed) was previously made, 
and was unconditional ; and not only for himself 
and his seed, but for all the nations of the earth. 

I am impressed to remark here, that from a right 
understanding of the representative and typical 
character of Abraham, and of the nature and de- 
sign of the rite of circumcision, we may discover 
much of the beautiful and continuous develop- 
ment of gospel truth, both under the old and new 
dispensation. 



PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 97 

God chose Abraham, and constituted him the 
progenitor of the Messiah, and promised to bless 
all nations in him, (the Messiah). — Gen. 12 : 3. He 
afterward renewed his promise, and established a 
covenant with him and his posterity, covenanting 
that he would be their God and protect and bless 
them, on condition of their obedience to his com- 
mandments. He also instituted the rite of circum- 
cision as a sign and seal of that covenant, which 
sign and seal was to be in their flesh, in all their 
generations, for a token, and an evidence of his 
right, title, and interest in, and to them, as his ; 
and also of their title to the blessings so condi- 
tionally promised. 

Thus all the children — the posterity— were the 
Lord's, as saith the Psalmist, Children are the 
heritage of the Lord ; the fruit of the womb is his 
reward. — Psa. 127 : 3. 

Abraham was thus constituted an eminent type 
of Christ, being exalted to the dignity of a cove- 
nanting party with the Deity, for himself, and in 
behalf of the millions of his posterity, which were 
to come into existence in all time ; whom he con- 
secrated to God by his own act in the circumcision 
of himself and his son Isaac, in whom those mil- 
lions had a positive seminal existence ; and not 
only did he thus consecrate them, but virtually, at 
the command of God, delivered and offered them 
up in sacrifice, in the person of Isaac. 

In proof of the positive seminal existence of 
the Abrahamic posterity in Isaac, I offer the tes- 



98 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

timony of Paul, viz. : a That Levi paid tithes in 
Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of Abraham 
when Melchisedek met him".— Heb. 7 : 9, 10. 

Abraham, by the circumcision of himself and 
his son Isaac, set apart and consecrated the yet 
unborn Hebrew nation, as typically holy unto the 
Lord. 

So Christ, having assumed the whole humanity, 
sanctified and consecrated it in himself holy unto 
God. 

Abraham virtually sacrificed and offered up to 
God the whole Hebrew posterity in the person of 
his son Isaac. 

So Christ sacrificed and offered up to God the 
whole posterity of Adam in his own person. 

Abraham was the mediator of the covenant, or 
the medium through whom God made a covenant 
with the Hebrew posterity, (though conditional) 
and which covenant was virtually solemnized and 
sealed with the blood of Isaac, and of the whole 
posterity as seminally in him. 

So Christ was the mediator and medium, through 
whom God made his new covenant of peace, par- 
don, and the remission of sins, (unconditionally) 
with the whole posterity of Adam, existing also 
seminally in him, (Christ) ; which covenant was 
not virtually, but was, in fact, actually solemnized 
and sealed with the blood of Christ. 

So runs the chain of gospel truth, emphatically 
the truth, the infinite fact, of the relation of the 
humanity to the divinity, and of its consequent 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 99 

immortality and glory throughout the scriptures 
of the Old and New Testaments ; and those who 
seek as if for hid treasure, may find it as a golden 
vein appearing, or, to use the gold-seeker's phrase, 
cropping out, first in the promise of the seed of 
the woman, thenceforth in the institution of offer- 
ings and sacrifices to God, symbolizing the obe- 
dience, death, and resurrection of all mankind in 
Christ. 

AVhich offering and sacrifices were probably 
made by individuals each for himself until the 
Deluge; when "Noah, a just man, and perfect 
in his generations," (perfect, as we may infer from 
the context, and free from the corrupting sensuali- 
ties and licentiousness of the rest of the world) 
" found grace in the eyes of the Lord" for himself 
and his posterity, and was accepted as their me- 
diator or medium, with whom God established his 
covenant, to save him, and his posterity in him, 
from the impending general destruction and extinc- 
tion of the race ; and also after the flood to renew 
the covenant, by accepting his offerings and bless- 
ing his posterity in him. 

Noah was the greatest of Adam's antediluvian 
posterity, and the first on whom was conferred the 
honor and dignity of the mediatorial office ; and 
in and through whom, covenant blessings were con- 
ferred on posterity, as existing seminally and posi- 
tively in a progenitor ; but only as a progenitor ; 
however, particular and careful distinction must be 
made between the relation of posterity to a pro- 



100 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

genitor and their relation to the head of the race ; 
because, in the first case, the posterity participates 
only in the blessings conferred through that me- 
dium ; but in the relation of Adam's posterity to 
him, there exists the oneness and identity of the 
head with the members of the body, by which the 
members were participant in his transgression. 

Noah was highly typical of Christ, not only as 
the mediator of God ? s covenant with his posterity, 
in and through him, but in their figurative burial 
and resurrection with him also : to which very 
special allusion is made by the apostle Peter, as 
follows : 

" For Christ also hath once suffered for sins — 
the just for the unjust — that he might bring us to 
God, being put to death in the flesh, but quick- 
ened by the spirit : by which also he went and 
preached unto the spirits in prison ; which some 
time were disobedient, when once the long suffer- 
ing of God waited in the days of Noah, while the 
ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight 
souls, were saved by water. The like figure where- 
unto baptism doth now save us, (not the putting 
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a 
good conscience toward God.) by the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ/'— 1st Peter, 8 : 18-21. 

" The like figure whereunto baptism doth now 
save us." The ordinance of baptism which we 
(the apostles) now observe, has the same figurative 
signification as had the immersion of the eight 
souls in the waters of the flood or in Noah's ark. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 101 

Baptism by water, is now the answer of a good 
conscience toward God, or an avowal of our faith 
in the resurrection of Jesus Christ ; and that we, 
the humanity, were baptized into his death, and 
consequently were in the likeness of his resurrec- 
tion, or rose in him. 

So the whole posterity of Noah (including of 
course our little selves) were baptized with him in 
the waters of the flood, and consequently rose or 
emerged with him from our watery tomb — the 
ark. 

Thus do we accumulate evidence of the great 
doctrine of seminal existence, first as members 
constituent of the bodj T of the humanity created 
in Adam, its earthly head ; second, in Xoah, who 
was left the sole progenitor of the subsequent 
race ; in which progenitor the millions who have 
since, and who will in future live, did certainly 
exist, or they must have derived their being from 
nonentity. 

From the righteousness and purity of the life 
and character of Noah, as contrasted with the 
awfully debasing licentiousness prevalent in his 
day, I am led to infer, that the incipient step which 
led to the horrible prostration and degradation 
both of the physical and moral powers of that 
generation, was the violation of the holy institu- 
tion or law of matrimony, which, as we are in- 
formed by the Saviour, was established in the 
beginning. — Mat. 19 : 8. Also, from the very 
origin of the relation, we may learn that it can- 



102 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

not exist in its purity but between one male and 
one female. — Gen. 2 : 24. 

The universal profanation of that sacred rite, 
bj^ a lawless, unrestrained indulgence of libidinous 
desire, had so deteriorated the human constitution 
as to render its very existence a positive evil, and 
its continuance a curse ; consequently, it was both 
merciful and just in the Deity to exterminate the 
race, (with the exception of Xoah and his three 
sons, who only had preserved their purity by obe- 
dience to the divine commands.) 

The truth and verity of seminal existence, or the 
in-being of the many in the one, as equal partici- 
pants of the benefits and blessings thereby received 
and conferred, is, then, as I conceive, abundantly 
established by the scriptures of the Old Testament, 
as has been shown ; first, the existence of the 
humanity in Adam ; second, of the post-diluvian 
posterity in Xoah ; third, as the Hebrew race in 
Abraham ; fourth, of the two nations which de- 
scended from Eebecca. The Lord said unto her, 
Two nations are in thy womb. — Gen. 25 : 23. 

In the New Testament, I trust that the testimonies 
which I have quoted (and which are but few of 
them) are abundant, in proof, that the world has 
no other hope of immortality and glory but in the 
relation of the humanity to God by virtue of its 
in-being in Christ. 

After thus digressing, I return and resume my 
remarks on Bom., chap. 4, v. 11, and so on. 

" And he received the sign of circumcision, a 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 103 

seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, 
being yet uncircumcised ; that he might be the 
father of all them that believe, though they be not 
circumcised ; that righteousness might be imputed 
to them also : and the father of circumcision, to 
them who are not of the circumcision only, but 
who also walk in the steps of that faith of our 
father Abraham, which he had, being yet uncir- 
cumcised." — Ys. 11, 12. 

I have already expressed my views on these two 
verses, except that, I would add, that the apostle, 
when speaking of Abraham as the father of cir- 
cumcision, to them who are not of the circumci- 
sion, alludes to spiritual circumcision — that is, "of 
the heart and of the mind :" 

" For the promise that he should be the heir of 
the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed 
through the law, but through the righteousness of 
faith."— Y. 13. 

The promise that Abraham should be the heir 
of the world, is, in other words, God ? s promise to 
him, that in him and his seed, all nations should 
be blessed, or that he should be the heir of the 
world's righteousness, or of righteousness with the 
world, in and through his seed, Christ ; not of the 
righteousness which is by the law, and of works, 
but of the righteousness which is of faith, on which 
faith relies, in and through Christ. 

" For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith 
is made void, and the promise made of non-effect. 
— V. 11. For if they who are of the covenant of 



PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

works be heirs of a perfect righteously inch, 

they are accepted with God, then the first covenant 
and promise of justification and righteor if 
and throngl : alone, is void — of no avail — 

of no effect. Because the law worketh wrath ; for 
where no law is, there is no tr on. — Y. 15. 

The law worketh wrath — condemns us — because 
our best obedience is imperfect: under that cove- 
nant, therefore, there is necessarily condemnation 
and transgression. But under the covenant of 
grace, we are p : and freely justified, in and 

through Christ ; we are, therefore, not under the 
law, and where no law is there is no transgression, 
or where the law is inoperative, there is no con- 
demnation for tra:. refore if 
faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the 
promise might be sure to all the seed : not to that 
only which is of the law, but to that also whk 
of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of 
us all/'— V. 16. " Therefore it is of frith." There- 
fore the promise under the new covenant is of a 
pen -teousness in Christ, on which faith 
relie inch faith we enjoy the assurance of 
it, that it (the justifying righteousness) might be of 
free grace, without that it 
might be sure — certain to be enjoyed by all the 
seed — all nations : not to that nation only, who 
are of the law, included in the covenant of wc : 
but to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles, because 
all were included in the Abrahamic covenant of 
grace. 






3 POPULAR THEOLOGY. 

As it is written, I have made thee a father of 
many nations) before him whom he believed, e 
., who quickeneth the dead, and calleth tl 
things which be d Aough they were ; 

against hope believed in hope, that he migh: 

ne the father of many nations ; according to 
that which - shall thy seed be. 

being not weak in faith, he considered not his own 
body now dead, when he was about an hundred 
1, neither yet the deadn- mb. 

He staggered not at the promise of God through 
unbelief; but w Qg in faith giving glory to 

God.— Vs. 17, IS. : .:ade thee a 

father of many nations." God revealed himself to 
Abraham, and made known to him, that he had 
made him the father of many nations ; thus calling 
things — nations which were yet unborn, as though 
they then existed, which truth, Abraham un 

A and belk \ those nations 

must then h ted in him (Abraham). 

_ainst hope believed in he ra- 

ham believed that God would c re him a 

son, according to his promise, notwithstanding 
apparent natural impo- ;hat it would be 

Abraham, was strong in faith, giving g] 
'A. n 
14 And being fully persuaded that what he had 
promised, he wa rform, and therefore it 

imputed. to him f - it 

tten for his sake alone, that it was im- 
» him ; but for c horn it shall be 



106 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus 
our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our 
offences, and raised again for our justification." — 
Vs. 21, 22, 23. 25. 

" And therefore it was imputed to him for right- 
eousness," not his faith (as I have shown in my 
remarks on v. 3, of this chapter,) but the right- 
eousness of Christ, of which his faith assured him, 
was imputed or assured to him. And we also (as 
it is affirmed in verse 24,) may enjoy the same 
assurance by believing the same truth, viz. : that 
God raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, "who 
was delivered for our offences, and raised again for 
our justification." 

Christ, as the head of every man — the second 
Adam, was delivered, by the Father, and we in him 
as the members of his body, to suffer, die, and 
that we might also rise in him to immortality and 
glory, in the presence of God. Such is the right- 
eousness in which Abraham believed, and of which 
he was assured by his faith in Christ. 

Thus was Abraham the father of the faithful — 
the father of us all, who believe in Christ as he be- 
lieved, — who believe the gospel which God preach- 
ed to him, yiz. : " that in his seed all nations should 
be blessed." 

"We have no example on record of faith in God, 
so perfect, so high, and hoh T , as that of Abraham. 
The Jew may justly glory in his descent from such 
a progenitor ; and the Gentile, in his adoption into 
the same family by the incarnation of Christ; and 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 107 

both, may attain to the highest earthly happiness 
and honor, bv emulating the same faith. 

Chap. 5. "Therefore being justified by faith, we 
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. By whom also we have access by faith 
into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in 
the hope of the glory of God." — Ys. 1, 2. In v. 1, 
we are said to be justified by faith. This is one 
of the many instances, as before mentioned, where 
faith, is put for the truth on which it is founded, 
viz. : the gospel of our salvation, our obedience, 
suffering, death and resurrection, in and through 
Christ. That such is the fact is perfectly clear, 
from v. 2, which shows, that we have access into 
the grace of God, (which grace is our justification 
and acceptance with him) by Jesus Christ, and 
that we enjoy the assurance of such justification 
and acceptance, by our faith or belief that it is so. 

Ys. 3, 4, show that the result, or fruit of our 
faith, or belief, that we are thus made accepted in 
Christ, is that we glory in tribulation, because it 
worketh patience, and experience, or wisdom, to 
perceive that patient suffering is promotive of obe- 
dience, and more perfect acquiescence in the will 
of God, and consequently, of hope or confidence 
in his wisdom and goodness. 

"And hope maketh not ashamed: because the 
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the 
Holy Ghost which is given unto us." — Y. 5. Our 
hope and confidence in God's love to us is well 
founded and will not disappoint us, "for his love 



108 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost 
which is given unto us." We have a spiritual 
assurance, an assurance in our minds given us, of 
God's love as manifested in Christ, begetting or 
creating in us, love to God : which love is the Holy 
Ghost or spirit of Christ. Not the Holy Ghost 
given with miraculous powers, as I have heretofore 
shown was given only in a few instances. The 
spirit of love to God and our fellow men, is the 
spirit of Christ, and is therefore no other than the 
Holy Ghost. 

" For when we were yet without strength, in due 
time Christ died for the ungodly." — V. 6. 

A further proof of God's love to us in Christ is, 
that " while we were yet without strength," help- 
less, sinful, morally dead, "Christ died for the 
ungodly," all sinners. " For scarcely for a righteous 
man will one die: yet peradventure for a good 
man some would even dare to die. But God com- 
mendeth his love toward us, in that while we were 
yet sinners, Christ died for us." — Vs. 7, 8. 

The argument here is, that God's love and ten- 
der mercy to us, is as much greater than that which 
is ever found in any human being, as he is greater 
than we are. 

"Much more then, being now justified by his 
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 
For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled 
to God by the death of his Son ; much more being 
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." — Vs. 9, 
10. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 109 

M Being justified by his blood." Justification by 
the blood of Christ, consists (as heretofore illus- 
trated) in a participation in his sufferings, as mem- 
bers of his body. The humanity existing in the 
second, as in the first Adam, constituent members 
of his body, his obedience, sufferings, and death, 
were necessarily ours. His blood is usually put 
for his death, or the evidence of it — the evidence, 
that the humanity in its flesh and blood constitu- 
tion, died with him on the cross. That it (the 
humanity) might also rise in him from the dead, 
and be presented, holy and without spot or blem- 
ish, in the presence of God. Such is justification, 
righteousness, and reconciliation, in and through 
Christ. Thus is Christ, the propitiation for the 
sins of the whole world ; and thus did God in 
Christ reconcile the world unto himself. Such is 
the new covenant which God made in and through 
Christ, with the world — the humanity ; and such 
is the gospel of God our Saviour, and the pro- 
clamation of it is the pardon, the " blotting out, 
and the remission of the sins" of the world, " that 
they may be remembered no more forever." 

"And not only so, but we also joy in God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have 
now received the atonement." — V. 11. We be- 
lievers, especially Jewish believers, joy in God, that 
we have now received the atonement — the recon- 
ciliation — the perfect righteousness, in and through 
our Lord Jesus Christ, which was prefigured in 
the offerings and sacrifices under the law. "Where- 



110 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

fore as by one man sin entered into the world, and 
death by sin : and so death passed upon all men, 
for that all have sinned." — V. 12. " Wherefore as 
by one man." The illustration and argument in 
proof of the atonement, the reconciliation and jus- 
tification of the world, in and by Christ, is here 
continued, by showing that the relation of the 
humanity, both to the first and second Adam, is 
identically the same ; that of the members of the 
bodjr to the head instituting a comparison between 
them, in elucidation of the natural and necessary 
results and effects of the seminal existence of the 
race in each. 

By one man, sin entered into the world — into 
the whole nature and mass of human existence; 
and so death — moral death, guilt, and condemna- 
tion, passed upon all men — for that all have sinned, 
inasmuch as the members of the body necessarily 
sin with the head. 

"For until the law, sin was in the world: but 
sin is not imputed when there is no law." — V. 13. 
This, and the four following verses, are a paren- 
thesis. I shall however treat them as though they 
were not so marked. 

" But sin is not imputed when there is no law." 
Although there was then no written laW imputing 
or condemning sin and transgression, yet its effects 
were the same (moral death)' to the humanity, 
whether committed in mass, after the similitude of 
their transgression in Adam, or individually and 
personally, as is shown in the next verse, viz. : 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. Ill 

"Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to 
Moses, even over them that had not sinned after 
the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the 
figure of him that was to come." — Y. 14. As 
above remarked, on v. 13, the similitude of Adam's 
transgression, is the transgression of the whole 
mass of the humanity in him, their head ; and the 
effect, both of that and individual transgression, is 
the same — moral death. 

" Who is the figure of him that was to come." 
This is a testimony of infinite moment ; from its 
true import we may deduce the true relation of the 
humanity to the Deity. Thus, Adam, who was 
God's earthly son, was constituted the head of the 
human nature — the whole human race existing in 
him, constituting the body of which he was the 
head. He (Adam) is here declared to be the figure 
of him (the Son of God) which was to come. He, 
too, (the Son of God) must then have been con- 
stituted in like manner the head of a spiritual na- 
ture — of a race of spiritual beings, existing in him, 
of the same nature as his, constituting the spiritual 
body of which he was the head. 

Thus is manifest a perfect likeness in the rela- 
tion of the members to their head, as existing in 
Adam and in Christ. Now the scriptures hereto- 
fore quoted, abundantly show that God created all 
things by and for his spiritual Son, whom he ap- 
pointed heir of all things so created ; consequently 
Adam and his posterity was his (Christ's) inherit- 
ance, "the children which God gave him." And 



112 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

that there might be a perfect union of the earthly 
and spiritual posterity, the earthly were created in 
the image and likeness of God — created in union, 
or united in creation, each of the human with a 
member of the spiritual nature or body of Christ. 
Thus are the attributes of a man (as before stated) 
a human soul and body derived from Adam, and 
an immortal spirit derived from Christ, and there- 
fore in the image of God ; he (Christ) being the 
express image of tac Father. 

11 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. 
For if through the offence of one many be dead, 
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, 
which is bv one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded 
unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, 
so is the gift : for the judgment was by one to 
condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences 
unto justification. For if by one man's offence 
death reigned by one : much more they which re- 
ceive abundance of grace, and of the gift of right- 
eousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.*' — 
Vs. 15, 16, 17. 

"But not as the offence, so also is the free gii: 
But we are not to infer from the perfect likeness 
of our relation to Adam, and to Christ, that we 
receive in the latter no more than we lost in the 
former. 

For though, by reason of one offence in Adam, 
many — the many in the one — are guilty and con- 
demned — morally dead. Yet the grace of God in 
Christ is much more abounding, much more than 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 113 

commensurate with the direful effects of that trans- 
gression, inasmuch as it proclaims the pardon and 
remission of all individual sins, of all generations. 

" And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the 
gift." And not as was our condemnation in Adam 
for one offence only, so is our pardon in Christ ; 
for in the former we were condemned for one sin, 
but in the latter we have full and free pardon for 
all sins of all men. 

"For if by one man's offence, death reigned by 
one, much more they which receive abundance of 
grace, and of the gift of righteousness shall reign 
in life, by one, Jesus Christ." "For if by one 
man's offence," moral death "reigned over" all, in 
and by one (Adam), a much more they which re- 
ceive abundant grace," mercy and pardon, and of 
righteousness in and through Jesus Christ, shall 
reign in immortal life and glory by him. 

" Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment 
came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by 
the righteousness of 'one, the free gift came upon all 
men unto justification of life. For as by one man's 
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the 
obedience of one shall many be made righteous." — 
Vs. 18, 19. V. 18 refers back to v. 12, and argues 
that as all sinned in Adam, for which sin judgment 
came upon all to condemnation, even so all men 
obtained righteousness in Christ unto justification 
of life. He, Paul, illustrates further, in v. 19, the 
doctrine of the many in the one, both in Adam 
and in Christ. 



114 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

"Moreover, the law entered, that the offence 
might abound. But where sin abounded, grace 
did much more abound : that as sin hath reigned 
unto death, even so might grace reign, through 
righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ 
our Lord."— Vs. 20, 21. 

" Moreover, the law entered, that the offence 
might abound." Bather that condemnation for 
the offence might abound, being inclusive of indi- 
vidual as well as original transgressions. But 
grace superabounded over all. 

"That as sin hath, reigned unto death" — unto 
condemnation — even so might grace reign, through 
the righteousness of Christ, unto eternal life in 
him. 

Chap. 6. — "What shall we say then ? Shall we 
continue in sin, that grace may abound? God 
forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live 
any longer therein ? Know you not, that so many 
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap- 
tized into his death? Therefore, we are buried 
with him by baptism into death : that like as Christ 
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the 
Father, even so we should walk in newness of life." 
— Ys. 1, 2, 8, 4. 

"What shall we say then?" Shall we who are 
brought to the knowledge of the infinitely forgiv- 
ing mercy and love of Gocl in and through Christ, 
and responding to that love, and consequently 
hating sin, or being dead to it, live any longer 



VEKSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 115 

therein ? Certainly not : the goodness of God 
leadeth us to repentance. 

"Know you not" that as many of us as have 
believed, and were baptized in the name of Christ, 
thereby expressly avowed our belief that we were 
immersed with him in his death ? 

Therefore, as we believe that we were baptized 
into Christ's death, and that in him we were raised 
up from the dead, by the glory or power of the 
Father, to immortality and glory, even so we 
should live a holy life — a life of love to God and 
man. 

" For if we have been planted together in the 
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the like- 
ness of his resurrection." — V. 5. " For if we 
were planted together with him" in death, we shall 
certainly be, like him, in the resurrection, perfect 
in love and holiness. 

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with 
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that 
henceforth we should not serve sin ; for he that is 
dead is freed from sin. — Vs. 6, 7* 

" Knowing this, that our old man," the Adamic 
flesh and blood constitution (which the Son of 
God assumed in the person of the son of Mary), 
was crucified, that the body of sin — the origin 
and cause of it — might be destroyed ; that we, the 
members of that body, might henceforth, in Christ's 
spiritual and glorious body, be holy and sinless; 
"for he. that is dead is freed from sin, " because 
freed from the body in which it can alone exist. 



116 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that 
we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ 
being raised from the dead, dieth no more : death 
hath no more dominion over him. For in that he 
died, he died unto sin once ; but in that he liveth, 
he liveth unto God.— Ys. 8, 9, 10. 

Now if we died in Christ, we believe that we 
were also raised in him to immortality and glory, 
" knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, 
dieth no more : death hath no more dominion over 
him;" for in that he died unto sin once, in the 
nature and body of the humanity which he as- 
sumed — in which nature he suffered, obeyed, re- 
sisted, and so condemned sin in the flesh — he died 
in the flesh and blood constitution, that in him 
the humanity might live unto God — in the pre- 
sence and glory of God. 

" Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead 
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus 
Christ our Lord."— V. 11. 

" Likewise reckon ye also yourselves" as having 
died, really and truly, unto sin, in Christ, and in 
him also as alive unto God. 

"Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal 
body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of 
unrighteousness unto sin ; but yield yourselves 
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead." 
—Vs. 12, 13. 

" Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal 
body." By a sinful indulgence of its lusts, neither 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 117 

yield your members to its dominion or power, but 
devote them wholly to God, l ' ; as those who are 
alive to him." — V. 14. " For sin shall not have do- 
minion over you ;" for though you are still in the 
sinful flesh and blood constitution (individually), 
yet you are not so, as existing in Christ, for in 
him that constitution is crucified and is dead, 
and you are therefore in and by him freed from 
its power over you, and consequently not under 
the law — the condemnation of the law: but ye 
are under the covenant of grace — the gospel, pro- 
claiming the pardon and remission of all sin, in 
and through Christ. 

"What then? shall we sin because we are not 
under the law. but under grace ? God forbid. 
Know ye not. that to whom ye yield yourselves 
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye 
obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience 
unto righteousness ?" — Vs. 15, 16. 

What then ? Shall we sin because we have no 
fear of condemnation by the law, but are under 
the covenant of grace, proclaiming pardon and the 
remission of all sin, in and through Christ ? G 
forbid. Know you not that if you obey your sin- 
ful lusts, you are s of sin ; and vie 
that if you obey Christ, you are servants to him, 
and under the highest obligation to live unto him. 

i; But God be thanked, that ye were the servants 
of <in ; but ye have obeyed from the heart that 
form of doctrine which was delivered you." — V. 17. 

"Ye were thus the servants of sin, but God be 



118 PEIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

thanked that ye have obeyed'' — believed the gos- 
pel, and "your faith works by love, and purifies 
the heart." 

" Being then made free from sin, ye became the 
servants of righteousness. I speak after the man- 
ner of mea, because of the infirmity of your flesh ; 
for as ye have yielded your members servants to 
uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so 
now yield your members servants to righteousness 
unto holiness ; for when ye were the servants of 
sin, ye were free from righteousness." — Vs. 18, 19, 20. 

" Being then made free from sin," in Christ, ac- 
cording to your faith in the gospel, the fruit of 
that faith was a holy life, and you became ser- 
vants of righteousness. 

I speak after this manner, knowing the infir- 
mity of the flesh, its proneness to sin, that you 
may resist temptation and mortify the deeds of 
the flesh. 

" What fruit had ye, then, in those things where- 
of ye are now ashamed ? for the end of those things 
is death. But now being made free from sin, and 
become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the 
wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eter- 
nal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." — Vs. 21, 
22, 23. 

" For when ye were the servants of sin," obey- 
ing your sinful lusts, " ye were free from righteous- 
ness" — were not governed by the spirit of the gos- 
pel. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 119 

u What fruit had ye then ?" what were the effects 
of the sinful life of which je are now ashamed? 
The certain effect of sin is death — moral death. 
But now, being made free from sin in and through 
Christ, and become practically the servants of God, 
living a life of faith and godliness, you have the 
enjoyment of spiritual life ; for the gift of God is 
eternal or spiritual life, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, or through our faith in him. 

Chap. 7. " Know you not, brethren (for I speak 
to them that know the law), how that the law 
hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth ? 
For the woman which hath an husband, is bound 
by the law of her husband so long as he liveth ; 
but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from 
the law of her husband. So then if while her 
husband liveth, she be married to another man, 
she shall be called an adultress ; but if her hus- 
band be dead, she is free from that law, so that she 
is no adultress, though she be married to another 
man. Therefore, my brethren, ye also are become 
dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye 
should be married to another, even to him who is 
raised from the dead, that we should bring forth 
fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, 
the motions of sins, which were by the law, did 
work in our members to bring forth fruit unto 
death. But now we are delivered from the law, 
that being dead wherein we were held, that we 
should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the 
oldness of the letter. — Vs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 



120 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

These six verses are a clear and beautiful illus- 
tration of the entire release of the Jewish belie- 
vers from all causes of fear or condemnation for 
having embraced the gospel, and also of the happy 
union of believers to Christ, by faith, and of their 
participation in his resurrection from the dead ; 
by which new alliance a new obligation devolved 
upon them, which was to bring forth fruit unto 
God — to serve him in newness of spirit, and not 
in the oldness of the letter — to serve him from a 
new principle, and a new spirit, which is a spirit 
of love to God and our fellow-men. 

" For when we were in the flesh" (which term, 
as we learn from v. 6, means to be under the law), 
"the motions of sins which were by the law" — 
the condemnation for sin by the law — did bring 
forth fruit in us unto death, moral death. But 
now we are delivered from that condemnation, the 
law being dead, inoperative : its demands are ful- 
filled by us in Christ. 

TVhat shall we say, then ? — is the law sin ? God 
forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law, 
for I had not known lust except the law had said 
thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by 
the commandment, wrought in me all manner of 
concupiscence ; for without the law sin was dead, 
for I was alive without the law once, but when 
the commandment came, sin revived and I died : 
and the commandment which was ordained to life, 
I found to be unto death ; for sin, taking occasion 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 121 

by the commandment, deceived me, and by it dew 
me.— Vs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. 

"What shall we say, then? — is the law sin?'' 
Shall we then say that the law is unjust in its 
requirements, and promotive of evil ? Certainly 
not. Its office is to give us the knowledge of 
sin ; it is therefore good. 

11 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, 
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence" — dis- 
covered to me my guilt : without which, that guilt 
would have been unperceivecl : 

■• For I (personating the Jewish nation) was 
alive," — unconscious of condemnation before the 
law was given; like other nations, whom "God 
suffered to walk in their own way." "But when 
the commandment came, sin revived, and I died:'' 
the condemnation of the law was moral death. 
"For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, 
deceived me, and by it slew me." 

For sin — lust — beguiled me, and brought me 
under the condemnation of the law : 

Wherefore the law is holy, and the command- 
ment holy and just and good. Was, then, that 
which is good made death unto me ? God forbid. 
But sin, that it might appear sin working death in 
me by that which is good ; that sin, by the com- 
mandment, might become exceeding sinful. For 
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, 
sold under sin.— Vs. 12, 13, 14. Verses 12, 13, 
need no further explanation than is given of the 
preceding verses, which are of similar impo 
6 



122 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

" For the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold 
under sin." The law is spiritual and holy, and 
requires holiness of disposition and life ; but I am 
depraved — sold under sin — naturally — necessarily 
prone to sin : 

" For that which I do, I allow not ; for what I 
would, that do I not ; for what I hate, that do I. 
If, then, I do that which I would not, I consent 
unto the law that is good. Now, then, it is no 
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me ; for 
I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth 
no good thing ; for to will is present with me ; 
but how to perform that which is good, I find not : 
for the good that I would, I do not ; but the evil 
which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that 
I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that 
dwelleth in me. I find, then, a law, that when I 
would do good, evil is present with me ; for I de- 
light in the law of God, after the inward man : but 
I see another law in my members warring against 
the law of my mind, and bringing me into cap- 
tivity to the law of sin which is in my members." 
— Vs. 15 to 23, inclusive. 

The argument in these verses shows very clearly 
the purity of the divine law, and also the existence 
in every man of a spiritual nature, in perfect con- 
formity with its holy requirements, which is to 
love righteousness and hate iniquity ; but not en- 
dowed in the present mode of being, with power 
fully to overcome and subject the lusts of the flesh 
to its will or the law of its being ; which spiritual 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 123 

existence is called in verse 22 the inward man, and 
in verse 23 the law of the mind, in contradistinc- 
tion from the law in the members — the latter con- 
stantly warring against the former, and bringing it 
into captivity to sin ; which inward man and law 
of the mind, existing in every man, is agreeable to 
many other scripture testimonies, such as "Christ 
in you the hope of glory."— Col. 1 : 27. "That 
was the true light which lighteth every man that 
cometh into the world." — John 1:9. " These show 
the work of the law written in their hearts." — 
Eom. 2 : 15. 

" O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver 
me from the body of this death ?"— V. 24. " Who 
shall deliver or redeem me from" the flesh and 
blood — the Adamic constitution — from its law of 
sin and death — from its guilt for transgression, 
both original and actual ? 

I thank God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, so 
then with the mind I myself serve the law of God ; 
but with the flesh, the law of sin. — V. 25. 

11 1 thank God for redemption from the body of 
sin and death, and from the condemnation of the 
law, for sin and transgression through our Lord 
Jesus Christ. So, then, I with the mind, the in- 
ward man, serve, obey the law of God, though 
while in the flesh, I am still subject to its in- 
firmities." 

Chap. 8. — There is therefore now no condemna- 
tion to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk 
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the 



124 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made 
me free from the law of sin and death ; for what 
the law could not do in that it was weak through 
the flesh, Grod sending his own Son in the likeness 
of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the 
flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be 
fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,* but 
after the spirit. — V. 1, 2, 3, 4. 

M There is therefore now" (in the gospel Church 
state, or state of faith,) " no condemnation" to be- 
lievers, for they trust in the righteousness and 
justification which they have in Christ, and not in 
the works of the law — not in their own works. 

" For the law of the spirit of life in Christ" — the 
perfect obedience of Christ, our head, has made us 
free from the law of sin, and the condemnation of 
the law for sin, which is death. " For what the 
law could not do" — what our obedience to the law 
could not do, because of our inability to obey it 
perfectly in our earthly head. " God sending his 
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh " that he 
might condemn sin — resist all temptation in the 
flesh — in the humanity — of which he became the 
head, and in it to suffer, obey, die, and rise from 
the dead to immortality and glory. 

11 That the righteousness of the law" — which it 
required, might be fulfilled in us, who walk not 
after the flesh, who trust not in our own righteous- 
ness, but in our obedience in Christ. 

For they that are after the flesh, do mind the 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 125 

things of the flesh ; but they that are after the 
spirit, the things of the spirit. — V. 5. 

Those who adhere to the fleshly ordinances of a 
worldly sanctuary — mind — look to the observance 
of those ordinances for justification ; but those who 
trust in the obedience, suffering, death, and resur- 
rection of Christ, look to those things for justifica- 
tion and salvation : 

For to be carnally minded is death ; but to be 
spiritually minded is life and peace. — T. 6. 

To be carnally minded — to trust in your own 
works — is to continue in a state of condemnation. 
But, to be spiritually minded — to believe and trust 
in Christ — is life and peace. 

u Because the carnal mind is enmity against God ; 
for it is not subject to the law of God : neither, in- 
deed, can be." 

The carnal, the self-righteous mind, is enmity 
against — is opposed to God's righteousness, which 
he has given us in Christ — is not subject — not obe- 
dient to it ; neither indeed can it be while in un- 
belief, 

" So, then, they that are in the flesh cannot please 
God." — V. 8. So, then, they that trust in the works 
of the law, cannot thereby find acceptance with 
God. 

"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if 
so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, 
if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none 
of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead 
by reason of sin, but the spirit is life, because of 



126 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

righteousness ; but if the spirit of him that raised 
up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he that 
raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken 
your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in 
you."— Vs. g ? 10, 11. 

"But ye are not in the flesh" — under the law — 
"but in the spirit" — in the faith of the gospel — 
u if so be that the spirit of God" — the love of God 
as revealed in Christ — "dwell in you." "Now if 
any man have not" that spirit, he is no disciple of 
Christ. 

" And if Christ be in you, the body is dead, be- 
cause of sin." "If Christ be in you," although 
the body is in a state of moral death, by reason of 
its proneness to sin, yet the spirit, the inward man, 
is life — is love to God, and his fellow-men. 

But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus 
from the dead (the spirit of love) dwell in you, he 
that raised up Christ from the dead shall also 
quicken your mortal bodies — shall spiritually 
strengthen and enable you to subdue and control 
the lusts of your mortal bodies. 

" Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the 
flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after 
the flesh, ye shall die : but if ye, through the 
spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall 
live."— Vs. 12, 13. 

Therefore, we are debtors — under obligation 
not to live after the lusts of the flesh ; for if you 
live in sin, you shall die : the wages of sin is moral 
death. But if, through the spirit, ye mortify the 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 127 

deeds of the body, ye shall live — in the enjoy- 
ment of the faith and hope of the gospel. 

"For as many as are led by the spirit of God, 
they are the sons of God." — Y. 1-1. 

11 As many as are led by the spirit of God, they 
are/' experimentally, practically, the sons of God. 

"For ye have not received the spirit of bon- 
dage again to fear ; but ye have received the spirit 
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father." — 
Y. 15. 

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage 
and fear of condemnation, but ye have received 
the spirit of adoption, of children, in and through 
Christ, whereby we call God our Father. 

The spirit itself beareth witness with our 
spirits, that we are the children of God." — Y. 16. 
bat same spirit of filial love to God as our 
Father bears witness, is a mental assurance, of our 
relation to him, in and through Christ. 

"And if children, then heirs — heirs of God, and 
joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with 
him, that we may be glorified together. For I 
reckon that the sufferings of this present time are 
not worth}^ to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us." — Ys. 17, 18. 

" If children, then heirs — heirs of God," and 
joint heirs with Jesus Christ, if so be even though 
we suffer while in the present life with him, or 
like him, and for his sake, we shall also M be glo- 
rified together" — shall inherit his glory. For I 
reckon that those sufferings are not worthy to be 



128 PRIMITIVE- CHRISTIANITY 

compared with the glory that shall be revealed in 
us in the resurrection state. 

"For the earnest expectation of the creature 
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not 
willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected 
the same in hope. For the creation itself also shall 
be delivered from the bondage of corruption into 
the glorious liberty of the children of God. For 
we know that the whole creation groaneth and 
travaileth in pain together until now." — Vs. 19, 
20, 21, 22. 

"For the earnest expectation of the creature 
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." 
11 The earnest expectation" of the Jewish people 
waited for the resurrection, in and through the 
Messiah, at his coming. — Heb. chap. 11. The 
apostle was addressing the Jewish believers espe- 
cially, and therefore speaks of the earnest expec- 
tation of that people — their confident hope in a 
glorious resurrection, through the Messiah. And 
he continues to speak of them only in the 20th 
and 21st verses ; but in v. 22, of the whole crea- 
tion — thus : " For we know that the whole crea- 
tion groaneth and travaileth in pain together until 
now." 

Although the hope of a resurrection, in and by 
the Messiah, was enjoyed by the Jews only, yet 
an unconquerable longing for immortality was uni- 
versal. 

" And not only they, but we ourselves also, 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 129 

which, have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we 
ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for the 
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." — 
V. 23. 

And not only they, but we ourselves — believers 
— groan, ardently desire, and long for the glory 
of the resurrection in Christ. 

"For we are saved by hope. But hope that is 
seen, is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth' 
he yet hope for ? But if we hope for that we see 
not, then do we with patience wait for it. Like- 
wise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; for we 
know not what we should pray for as we ought : 
but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us 
with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he 
that searcheth the heart, knoweth what is the mind 
of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for 
the saints, according to the will of God." — Vs. 24, 
25, 26, 27. 

" We are saved by hope" — we are saved pros- 
pectively ; we rejoice in anticipation of the glory 
which is to be revealed in us, and therefore with 
patience wait for it. 

11 Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities," 
for we know not what we should pray for as we 
ought. But Christ himself maketh intercession 
with intense desire and unutterable sympathies, 
for his waiting, hoping disciples. And he that 
searcheth the hearts (the Father) knoweth the 
mind, the intense desire of his Son, and will grant 

6* 



130 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

his petition, because he maketh intercession for us 
according to his (the Father's) will. 

11 And we know that all things work together 
for good to them that love God, to them who are 
the called according to his purpose.'' — Y. 23. 

And we who are believers, called and chosen 
from among our nation and people, " according to 
God's purpose and grace, according to the election 
of grace," know that all things shall work together 
for our good. 

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did pre- 
destinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, 
that he might be the first-born among many breth- 
ren."— Y. 29. 

11 For whom he did foreknow"' — foreappoint, 
elect — "he also did predestinate to be conformed 
to the image of his Son" — to be like him in spirit, 
in faith, and love — u that he might be the first-born 
among many brethren." 

This last clause of v. 29, especially the distinc- 
tive appellation — the first-born — has an exceed- 
ingly rich and beautiful significance, when illus- 
trated by referring to other scriptures with which 
it is in harmony. Thus, Christ is the first-born — 
the first and only begotten Son of God. — Heb. 1 : 
6 ; John 1 : 14. He is the first-born of every 
creature. — Col. 1 : 15. He is therefore heir of all 
things — Heb. 1 : 2 — of all men — the humanity ; 
the children which God gave him — Heb. 2 : 13 — 
they were his by birth-right. 

Now that portion of his inheritance which 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 131 

formed his first visible kingdom, was the church 
at Jerusalem, composed of Jewish believers, em- 
bracing, as before stated, both his own and the 
disciples of John the Baptist. That church was 
"the spiritual Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusa- 
lem, the city of the living God/ 1 It was the holy 
hill of Zion, on which God set his king. — Psa. 2 : 
6. It was over that church which Christ ruled, 
as a son over his own house,— Heb. 8 : 6. 

"Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he 
also called : and whom he called, them he also 
justified: and whom he justified, them he also glo- 
rified/ — V. 30. 

11 Whom he did predestinate" — a certain number 
of the Jewish people — them be also, in due time, 
called — designated by a special illumination, as the 
first fruits of the spirit — of faith in the Messiah ; 
not that he loved them more than others, but, 
ultimately, for their good also, that they (the first 
fruits of the spirit), the first gospel Church, might 
be "the light of the wori 

" Them he also justified " — sanctified them 
through the belief of the truth — the gospel. As 
Christ said to his disciples, "Now ye are clean 
through the word which I have spoken unto you/' 
— John 15 : 3. 

"Them he also glorified.'' "Made them kings 

and priests unto God" — Rev. 1 : 6— designated 

o as "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 

a peculiar people ; that they should show forth the 



132 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

praises of him who had called them out of dark- 
ness into his marvellous light." — 1 Pet. 2 : 9. 

"What shall we then say to these things? If 
God be for us, who can be against us ? He that 
spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him 
up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely 
give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to 
the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justi- 
fieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ 
that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is 
ever at the right hand of God, who also maketh 
intercession for us."— Vs. 31, 32, 33, 34. 

M What shall we then say? If God be for us" — 
if he has thus called us from the legal, into the 
gospel church state, what power can the law have 
over us or against us? If God delivered up his 
Son for us all, how shall we not receive justifica- 
tion and all spiritual blessings in and through him ? 

u Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's 
elect?" 

What charge has the law against us, whom God 
hath elected and u chosen to sanctification and be- 
lief of the gospel ?" It is God that hath justified 
us in Christ, yea rather, that we are glorified with 
him at the right hand of God, where he also maketh 
intercession for us. 

11 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 
shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or 
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is 
written, For thy sake we are killed all the day 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 133 

long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'' 
— Ys. 35, 36. 

What can separate us from the love of Christ? 
Can any, or all the evils possibly incident to this 
life ? Though it may be with us, as it is written 
of the saints of old, For thy sake are we killed all 
the day long: we are accounted as sheep for the 
slaughter. 

" Xay, in all these things we are more than con- 
querors, through him that loved us. For I am 
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, 
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
other creature, shall be able to separate us from 
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord;*— Ys. 37, 38, 39. 

"Nay, in all these things we shall be more than con- 
querors. " YTe shall not only survive and triumph 
over all the ills of life, but they shall work together 
for our good, through the wisdom and love of God. 



134 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 



CHAPTER VI. 

The great and glorious truths embodied in this 
chapter, to the elucidation of which, I have applied 
the best of my feeble powers, offering, as I con- 
ceive, abundant consolation in every possible con- 
dition of the humanity, as well as a full and happy 
assurance of future bliss and glory, I am impelled 
to submit a few practical remarks, by way of ap- 
plication. This (eighth) chapter is an epitome of 
the preceding portion of an exposition, of the pur- 
pose and design of God, in the creation of the 
world by, and for, his Son Jesus Christ, as it is de- 
veloped, in his providence, and in the scriptures ; 
which exposition is addressed to the Jews, and 
especially to Jewish believers. 

The conclusions to which previously stated facts 
and arguments bring him, are, that believers are 
wholly released from the bondage of fear and con- 
demnation of the law, by their faith, in their par- 
ticipation in the obedience, death, and resurrection 
of Christ, and by the remission of their sins, by 
virtue of the membership of the whole humanity 
in him (Christ) their head — all " being made ac- 
cepted in the beloved." 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 135 

Although it is true, as the apostle teaches, that 
the hope of the gospel is enjoyed in this life by 
believers only ; yet it is equally true that the 
foundation of that hope is no other than the uni- 
versal paternity of God — the relation of the hu- 
manity to him, in and by his Son Jesus Christ, the 
head of every man. The faith and hope of the 
believer, are therefore but the assurance derived 
from the gospel, of the salvation of the world, in 
and by Christ, according to God's purpose and 
grace in his Son, before the world began. It may 
be demanded, then, with equal confidence and 
triumph, in behalf of all mankind, as it was by 
the apostle for himself and his fellow believers, 
"If God be for us, who can be against us? TTho 
shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall 
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, 
or nakedness, or sword ? For (like Paul) we may 
be persuaded, assured, that neither life, nor death, 
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us 
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." AVe may affirm, moreover, by the author- 
ity of the same apostle, that "the whole creation 
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, 
into the glorious liberty of the children of God." 

Now why shall we entertain a doubt that it is 
even so ? Is it not supererogation to refer to the 
long and bright array of other divine testimonies 
of the same import? If these alone are true, (J 



136 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

secure to the humanity an indefeasible title to an 
inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth 
not away, reserved in heaven for it. — 1 Pet. 1 : 4. 
And that title is on record in the Book of Life, — 
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. 

But we are unbelieving, and how unbelieving! 
how mysteriously unbelieving ! Was ever posses- 
sion so secure ? — conveyed by title of eternal war- 
rantee, from the possessor of the heavens and the 
earth, and sealed by the blood of the everlasting 
covenant ? 

Such is the title, and such the inheritance ;. and 
its possessor is richer than the gold of Ophir, or 
the whole of this and all other material worlds 
could make him. And who is he ? Arts. Every 
child of Adam. The prince and the peasant, the 
bond and the free, the hungry and naked, the sick 
and the prisoner. How long will the possessor 
live to enjoy his inheritance? till seventy, or one 
hundred years ? Not so; he shall live, u an heir 
of God, and joint heir with Jesus Christ;" as long 
as Christ lives, "he shall live also." Believe then, 
prince and peasant, bond and free, hungry and 
naked, the sick and the prisoner, believe ! that 
your joy may be full: tremble, fear, and doubt as 
you may, your title to the heavenly mansion is 
good, — your name is written in the Book of Life ! 
Are you a sinner ? dead in sins ? God, who is 
rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he 
loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath 
quickened us, together with Christ. — Eph. 2 : 45. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 137 

Are you the chief of sinners ? Christ Jesus came 
into the world to save you." — 1 Tim. 1 : 15. 
May we not in triumph anticipate the natural and 
legitimate effects and influence of such a faith upon 
the various classes of men ? The prince, should 
he believe that himself and all his subjects are 
alike the children of God, in and by Christ, the 
head of every man, and equally the objects of his 
tender mercy and love ; would that belief incline 
him to despotic cruelty and oppression? Nay, 
verily ; but to rule in the fear and love of God, 
and to love his subjects as God's other children. 

Should the master, even the slaveholder, believe 
thus, would it not incline him to treat his servants 
"as Christ's free men"? And the servants, if 
in the same faith, would they not " obey and 
love their masters, and faithfully serve them"? 
The poor and destitute, the sick and the prisoner, 
would not they also in possession of such a faith 
rejoice even in tribulation, knowing that it worketh 
patience, experience, and hope in God, which can- 
not be disappointed ? 

Those who are dead in sins, even the chief of 
sinners, if mentally assured of the same glorious 
truth, would not they in return, love God and his 
other children, even more than those to whom less 
had been forgiven ? 

Could the world then, but believe ! — believe in 
the universal paternity and love of God, in univer- 
sal heirship of God, and joint heirship with Jesus 
Christ, the certain effect and fruit of such a faith 



138 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

would be universal love ; love to God, and love to 
all men, would rule and reign. " We should go 
out with joy, and be led forth with peace, and the 
desert would blossom as the rose." The numerous 
religious sects in Christendom, Israelites included, 
could they but leap the barriers of sectarianism, 
burst the chains of superstitious veneration of the 
time honored traditions of men, and be persuaded 
to search the scriptures, as for hid treasure, on 
whose pages are inscribed, line upon line, the evi- 
dence of the inbeing relation of the humanity to 
the Son, and its joint heirship with him, of God 
the Father, I cannot but hope that they would be- 
lieve, and blend in one Catholic, universal Church. 
Can we hope for it ? — only in God's time." 

But like the disciples of old, we "are slow of 
heart to believe all that is written in the scriptures 
concerning Christ — that it became him," the head, 
and his body, the humanity in him, to suffer, obey, 
die, and rise to immortality and glory in the pre- 
sence of the Father, saying, "here am I, and the 
children thou hast given me." 

" Not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of 
God — the power of the resurrection — we err, we 
stagger at the promise" of what we see not with 
the natural eye, but we may see the evidence in 
the scriptures, of the infinite fact of the resurrec- 
tion of our glorious head. Shall not the body, 
therefore, be as the head ? O, we of little faith ! 
O, our Father, let us not "be faithless, but believ- 
ing; help thou our unbelief !" 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 139 

But to reason from what we know ; is it not be- 
low the dignity of reason to doubt the power of 
him, from whom we derive our present being, to 
raise, or rather to change us from the earthly and 
perishing, to the heavenly and immortal state, — 
11 to change our vile body, that it may be fashioned 
like unto Christ's glorious body. True, we have 
not seen Christ's, nor any other spiritual body — 
well, because it (Christ's body) was translated from 
the earthly to the spiritual state, and is therefore, 
as all spiritual beings are, invisible, may we there- 
fore doubt their existence ? As well may we doubt 
the existence of the human soul, which is equally 
invisible. Then may we rationally and philosophi- 
cally believe in the power of the resurrection. 

I here append to my comments on the eighth 
chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, some further 
remarks on the doctrine of election, as taught, vs. 
28-34. 

The Jewish believers of that day were designated 
by the apostle, as having been called according to 
God's purpose, foreknown and predestinated to be 
conformed to the image of his Son ; and in v. 33, 
as God's elect, Xot elected to eternal life and im- 
mortal glory, to the exclusion of the rest of man- 
kind, or any portion of them, but to salvation in 
this life, " through sanctification and belief of the 
truth." They were chosen from, and to the exclu- 
sion of the rest of Israel, whom the apostle says 
were blinded, and did not therefore obtain an en- 
trance into the gospel kingdom. 



140 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

But I can in no instance find the Bible doctrine 
of election, to involve the final destiny of any 
portion of mankind. Much less to choose and 
predestinate a certain number to everlasting bliss 
and glory, and to reprobate the rest to eternal wo 
and misery — both being of like merit or demerit — 
and the doctrine being at issue with the attributes, 
and dishonorable to the character of God, I cannot 
believe it can find support in his word. 

God's first election was that of his Son, that he 
might be his, ' ; the Father's salvation to the ends 
of the earth." — Isa. 42 : 1 — ±9 : 6. He chose 
Abraham also, that in him and his seed, all nations 
might be blessed. Pursuant to the same end, he 
chose and preferred Jacob to Esau, as a progeni- 
tor of Christ ; and I conceive that no Bible truth 
is clearer, than that in every instance, where 
special favor and endowments have been conferred, 
it has been for the good of others, or of all. The 
designation and qualification of great and good 
men, either for ecclesiastical or political prefer- 
ment, is designed for the general good. Such is 
both the doctrine, and the example of Christ and 
the apostles. ''He that is great among you, let 
him be your servant." To return to chap. 9. U I 
say the truth in Christ, I lie not; my conscience 
also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I 
have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my 
heart ; for I could wish myself accursed from Christ 
for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the 
flesh.' —Ys. 1, 2, 3. ' 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 141 

" My conscience also bearing me witness in the 
Holy Ghost," in, or by the spirit of Christ. 

He, Paul, was willing for Christ's, (or as he says 
on another occasion), for his body's sake, to be ac- 
cursed, (which was to be crucified), if he could 
thereby convert his brethren to the faith of the 
gospel. 

"Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the 
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and 
the giving of the law, and the services of God, and 
the promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom, 
as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over 
all, God blessed forever. Amen." — Vs. 4, 5. 

"Whose are the fathers;" Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, " to whom pertaineth the adoption and the 
covenants," who were the chosen people, who were 
favored with the visible manifestation of God's 
glory, in the cloud, Exod. 16 : 10, and over the 
mercy-seat in the tabernacle, Lev. 16 : 2, and in 
many other instances ; " and the covenants" — the 
two covenants — the covenant of grace, and the 
covenant of works, on which I have heretofore re- 
marked. "Who is God over all? Christ is God 
over all ; both Jews and Gentiles, in the same sense 
as were those to whom the word of the Lord 
came."— -John 10 : 35. 

" Not as though the word of God had taken none 
effect ; for they are not all Israel which are of 
Israel."— V. 6. 

" Not as though the word of God had taken 
none effect." The covenants and promises men- 



142 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

tioned in vs. 4, 5 have not failed to fulfil their 
mission in the establishment of the gospel church 
and kingdom — the spiritual Israel, notwithstand- 
ing the unbelief and rejection of the Messiah by 
the Jewish people generally ; for the blessedness 
of the gospel church state was promised, and de- 
signed to be enjoyed, only by the believing, spirit- 
ual Israelites, who were the true spiritual Israel. 
Not so because of their natural descent from 
Abraham ; but by virtue of their having embraced 
his faith in the Messiah, they were of Abram's 
spiritual seed — those " who walked in the steps of 
his faith." 

" Neither because they are the seed of Abraham 
are they all children : but in Isaac shall thy seed 
be called ; that is, they which are the children of 
the flesh : these are not the children of God ; but 
the children of the promise are counted for the 
seed/'— Vs. 7, 8. 

Neither were all Abram's children ; that is, his 
children by promise. Ishmael was his son ; but 
not the son promised as the progenitor of Christ, 
as was Isaac : therefore, in Isaac only that seed of 
which Christ should be born was called. 

" That is," those of Abraham's children who 
were not given by promise, as was Isaac, were not 
the children or the elect of God, as was Isaac and 
his posterity. 

" For this is the word of promise. At this time 
will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And 
not only this, but when Rebecca also had con- 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 143 

ceived by one, even our father Isaac. (For the 
children being not yet born, neither having done 
any good or evil, that the purpose of God accord- 
ing to election might stand, not of works but of 
him that calleth.) It was said unto her, the elder 
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob 
have I loved, but Esau have I hated." — Vs. 9, 10, 
11, 12, 18. 

" For this is the word of promise," that Isaac 
was by the appointment and act of Grod the chosen 
seed of which Christ should be born ; and the 
same is true of Jacob, who was chosen and pre- 
ferred to Esau before they were born ; not on the 
ground of merit, or moral fitness, for neither had 
done good or evil, but that God's purpose accord- 
ing to his own will should be fulfilled. Here again 
is the true doctrine of election, which is but the 
choice of certain instruments of universal good. 

What shall we say, then ? Is there unrighteous- 
ness with God ? God forbid ; for he saith to Moses, 
"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, 
and I will have compassion on whom I will have 
compassion. So then, it is not of him that willeth, 
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth 
mercy."— Vs. 14, 15, 16. 

What shall we say, then ? Is there unrighteous- 
ness with God ? Has he benefited one portion of 
mankind at the expense and to the injury of an- 
other ? God forbid. All will result, as it is de- 
signed, in the general good. 

" For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for 



144 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I 
might show my power in thee, and that my name 
might be declared throughout all the earth." — Y. 

17. This scripture shows, that the divine purpose 
in the case of Pharaoh was to extend the knowl- 
edge of himself (the greatest of blessings, wher- 
ever enjoyed) throughout the earth. 

" Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will 
have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 
Thou wilt say, then, unto me, why doth he yet 
find fault, for who hath resisted his will?" — Vs. 

18, 19. Therefore will God have mercy ; he will 
choose his own instruments to effect his gracious 
purposes, though his method of accomplishing 
them may incidentally harden an obdurate heart. 
God's purpose of mercy in this case was to deliver 
his people from cruel bondage ; the chosen instru- 
ments were Moses and Aaron ; the means used to 
accomplish the end was the manifestation of his 
power in such manner as incidentally to harden 
the already obdurate heart of Pharaoh, which, had 
it been otherwise inclined, would have been soften- 
ed by the same process, as the wax is softened by 
the same power that hardens the clay. " Thou 
wilt say, then, why doth he yet find fault, for who 
hath resisted his will ?" 

Let it be here remembered that the apostle, in 
the previous chapters, had been arguing and illus- 
trating the predestination of a certain chosen num- 
ber of his nation, to be conformed to the image of 
Christ by their faith in him, that they might form 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 145 

the first gospel church — the Church of the first- 
born. 

In this (ninth) chapter he avows his unchanged 
and deep affection for the whole nation, and his 
willingness to be sacrificed for their good — for 
their conversion to the faith of the gospel, if it 
might thereby be effected. 

The subject now under consideration is, there- 
fore, an illustration of the wisdom and goodness 
of God's previous purpose to over-rule the wicked- 
ness of the unbelieving Jews, and render it sub- 
servient to his gracious design, to extend the 
knowledge and blessings of the gospel, which he 
clearly showed by adverting to the history of God's 
dealings with Pharaoh — that as God, in his pro- 
vidence, had raised him to the Egyptian throne, 
with the design to render even his native perverse- 
ness of heart subservient to the extension of the 
knowledge of himself to all mankind, Pharaoh, of 
course, not excepted. So he had also chosen the 
Israelites a medium of communication to all na- 
tions of the knowledge of gospel truth and grace, 
and had in his wisdom rendered even their wicked 
rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah promotive 
of that end. 

He now proceeds (in v. 20 and onward) to an- 
swer their objection to such illustration, which is 
in substance — that if God's purpose is accom- 
plished, and good has resulted from our unbelief 
and disobedience, why do we suffer on account of 
them? 7 



146 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

"JSTay, but, man, who art thou that repliest 
against God ? Shall the thing formed sa j to him 
that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" — 
V. 20. 

11 Nay, but, man" (the Jewish people), will you 
presume to question the justice, goodness, and wis- 
dom of God, by which he has caused that which 
you intended for evil to result in unspeakable 
good? Your chastisement is but the just recom- 
pense of your error, which is meet. 

" Hath not the potter power over the clay ?" — 
the Jewish people — to make a certain number of 
them a vessel of honor, a church, composed of 
believers in the Messiah, and of the unbelieving 
portion of the nation a vessel of dishonor, or to 
reject them as being no longer his peculiar people? 

11 TThat if God, willing to show his wrath, and 
to make his power known, endured with much 
long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to des- 
truction."— V. 22. 

"TThat if God, willing to show his wrath," or 
his righteous sentence of condemnation, by all his 
faithful warnings (and in due time to make his 
power known), endured with much long-suffering, 
even for many centuries, a disobedient and gain- 
saying people, fitting themselves for the catastro- 
phe of their state and nation. 

"And that he might make known the riches of 
his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had 
afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 147 

called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gen- 
tiles."— Vs. 23, 24. 

" And that he might make known the riches of 
his glory." And that he might, according to his 
purpose and grace, establish the gospel kingdom, 
consisting both of Jewish and Gentile believers in 
the obedience, death, and resurrection of Christ : 
the rejection and crucifixion of whom, by the Jews, 
being a part of the divine purpose. 

" As he saith in Osee, I will call them my people 
which were not my people, and her beloved which 
was not beloved ; and it shall come to pass, that 
in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are 
not my people ; there shall they be called the chil- 
dren of the living God."— Vs. 25, 26. The estab- 
lishment of the gospel among the Gentiles was the 
fulfillment of prophesy. 

" Esaias also crieth concerning Israel. Though 
the number of the children of Israel be as the sand 
of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." — V. 27. " A 
remnant shall be saved." "A remnant, according 
to the election of grace," shall be saved from the 
condemnation of the law- — "the bondage to fear," 
and shall enter into the gospel kingdom by their 
faith in the Messiah — into a state of "peace and 
joy in the Holy Ghost" — the holy spirit of Christ 
— " the spirit of adoption, whereby they cry Abba 
Father — they were "the blessed of the Father/' — 
and were admitted into "the kingdom prepared 
for them before the foundation of the world." They 
were also saved from the general distress — " the 



148 PEIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

overflowing scourge of their nation," — from " tri- 
bulation such as never was, or ever shall again be." 

" For he will finish the work and cut it short in 
righteousness ; because a short work will the Lord 
make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, 
except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we 
had been as Sodom, and been made like unto 
Gomorrah."— Vs. 28, 29. 

" He will finish the work :" he will close the dis- 
pensation of types and shadows — of offerings and 
sacrifices — in which he had no longer any pleasure. 
"He will cut it short in righteousness ;" in justice 
and in mercy, "in the midst of judgment, remem- 
bering mercy/' so that the elect, the believers, 
might escape ; and also that the whole nation 
might not be exterminated. 

What shall we say, then? — that the Gentiles, 
which followed not after righteousness, have at- 
tained to righteousness, even the righteousness 
which is of faith : but Israel, which followed after 
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the 
law of righteousness. Wherefore ? Because they 
sought it not by faith ; but, as it were, by the 
works of the law. For they stumbled at that 
stumbling-stone. As it is written, Behold, I lay in 
Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence, and 
whosoever believeth on him, shall not be ashamed. 
—Vs. 30-33. 

Vs. 30-33, show, that the Gentiles, who enjoyed 
none of the spiritual" privileges which had been 
conferred upon the Jews, had attained to the as- 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 149 

surance of righteousness by faith in Christ, to which 
righteousness Israel had not attained, because they 
sought it by obedience to the law — trusted in their 
own works for justification, and were opposed to 
the doctrine of justification in and through Christ, 
as well as to the spirituality of his character and 
kingdom, according to the prophecy quoted in 
verse 33. 

Chap. 10 is a continuation of the argument in 
proof of the unhappy prejudices and fatal error of 
the Israelites in their rejection of the Messiah, in 
whom was fulfilled the very offerings and sacrifices 
under the law to which they so tenaciously ad- 
hered. That (v. 5) the ordinances instituted by 
Moses, were by him restricted to that dispensation, 
though they (vs. 6, 7) prefigured him (Christ) who 
was to descend from heaven, and suffer, obey, die, 
and rise from the dead, and all the people in him. 
And what do we now (vs. 8, 9, 10) preach ? We 
say that very Messiah has now come — has so suf- 
fered, obeyed, died, and risen from the dead, and 
that all men have suffered, obeyed, died, and risen 
in him. So, that if thou shalt confess with thy 
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine 
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, 
thou shalt be saved — have the assurance of justi- 
fication, remission of sins, and of a resurrection to 
immortality and glory. For with the heart man 
believeth unto righteousness, — that he hath right- 
eousness in Christ, and with the mouth he maketh 
confession of the same. Vs. 11-13, re-affirm the 



150 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

universality of gospel grace ; and vs. 14-17, that 
faith cometh by hearing and believing the preached 
gospel. 

Vs. 18-21, show that the Messiah came and fully 
manifested himself, and preached his gospel to the 
Jews ; and that, according to prophecy, they were 
V a disobedient and gainsaying people," and that, 
according to the same prophecy, the believing Gen- 
tiles obeyed and embraced the gospel and its bless- 
ings, which had been first proffered to the Jews. 
And thus by their faith the Gentiles became the 
true " spiritual Israel " — the true spiritual children 
of Abraham : from all which, "Israel, according 
to the flesh, were excluded by unbelief — broken 
off from their own olive tree, into which the Gen- 
tiles were grafted" in their room and stead, and 
"partook of the root and fatness thereof.' 7 

Chap. 11, vs. 1-5. — The apostle re-affirms that 
God did not cast away the whole nation of Israel, 
inasmuch as " himself was of the remnant saved, 
according to the election of grace:" there was still 
a branch which was not broken off from the olive 
tree of faith, in the promised Messiah. 

Y. 6, keeps before the mind the all-important 
truth and doctrine of free grace. 

Vs. 7-10, are in further elucidation of the ful- 
fillment of prophecy in the blindness of mind and 
rebellious spirit of the Jews. 

I say, then, have they stumbled that they should 
fall ? God forbid : but rather through their fall 
salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 151 

them to jealousy. Now, if the fall of them be the 
riches of the world, and the diminishing of them, 
the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their 
fullness ?— Vs. 11, 12. Have they stumbled that 
the} 7 should fall ? Was their rejection and cruci- 
fixion of the Messiah, and their exclusion from 
the gospel kingdom because of their unbelief in 
him, the end and consummation of the divine pur- 
pose concerning them ? God forbid ; but rather 
that he would render their national sin and ma- 
lignity subservient to the manifestation of his love 
to the world, and that in process of time the Jews 
might be excited to emulate the faith of the Gentiles. 

" Now if the fall of them be the riches of the 
world." If their fall has, by the goodness and 
wisdom of God, resulted in the manifestation of 
gospel grace to the whole world, and in the em- 
brace of the gospel by the Gentiles, how much 
greater and more glorious will the wisdom and 
grace of God appear when they (the Jews) shall also 
be made partakers of the same faith and blessings. 
And that day, we hope, will come. 

" For I speak to you, Gentiles, inasmuch as I 
am the apostle of the Gentiles. I magnify mine 
office : if by any means I may provoke to emula- 
tion them which are my flesh, and might save some 
of them."— Vs. 14, 15. 

11 1 speak thus to you, and of you, Gentiles ; for, 
although I am the apostle of the Gentiles, yet I 
would magnify mine office by preaching the same 
gospel of the grace of God to the Jews, who are 



152 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

my brethren in the flesh, that I may convert some 
of them also to the faith." 

For, if the casting away of them be the recon- 
ciling of the world, what shall the receiving of 
them be but life from the dead ? — V. 15. 

If the casting of them away was incidentally the 
cause of Christ's tasting death for every man, by 
which the world was reconciled to Grod, what shall 
their ultimate destiny be but life from the dead — a 
glorious resurrection in Christ ? 

" For, if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also 
holy ; and if the root be holy, so are the branches." 
—V. 16. 

If the first fruit be holy : If the elect — those 
who were chosen from among the Jews to consti- 
tute the first gospel Church were holy — were in- 
cluded in the covenant of grace, the lump, the 
whole nation, is so included ; and as is the whole 
nation, so are all its branches. 

11 And if some of the branches be broken off, 
and thou being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in 
among them, and with them partakers of the root 
and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the 
branches ; but if thou boast, thou bearest not the 
root, but the root thee."— Ys. 17, 18. 

If a portion of the Jewish nation were, because 
of unbelief, broken off — excluded from the bless- 
ings of the visible Church of their own Messiah, 
according to the flesh, and thou being a wild olive 
tree, a nation having no part in, or alliance with 
him, (the Messiah) according to the flesh, wert 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 153 

graffed in among the natural branches — among the 
Jewish believers — boast not against those who 
were thus excluded, for thou canst not boast of 
having conferred favors upon them ; for it is in- 
cidentally through them that gospel blessings are 
now enjoyed by you. 

" Thou wilt say, then, the branches were broken 
off that I might be graffed in. Well, because of 
unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest 
by faith, be not high-minded, but fear : for if God 
spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he 
spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness 
and severity of God : on them which fell, severity ; 
but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his 
goodness — otherwise thou also shalt be cut off; 
and they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, 
shall be graffed in, for Grod is able to graft" them in 
again , for if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, 
which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary 
to nature into a good olive tree, how much more 
shall these which be the natural branches, be 
graffed into their own olive tree ?" — Vs. 19-24. 

In these six verses, the Gentile believers are 
faithfully warned of the evil consequences of spirit- 
ual pride, and exhorted to continue in the faith, 
lest they should fall into the same condemnation 
with the unbelieving Jews. 

" For I would not, brethren, that ye should be 
ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in 
your own conceits ; that blindness in part has hap- 
pened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentile? 



154 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved ; as 
it is written, There shall come out of Sion the de- 
liverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Ja- 
cob : for this is my covenant unto them, when I 
shall take away their sins." — Vs. 25-27. 

This passage of scripture has been to me one of 
exceedingly difficult interpretation, until I obtained, 
as I conceive, a truer and clearer understanding 
than 1 formerly had of the great and cardinal doc- 
trine of the resurrection. I could not see that the 
fullness of the Gentiles and all Israel could be 
(literally) less than all that ever had and would 
exist, and if so, the period designated was the end 
of time, and the entire cessation of human exist- 
ence, which exposition would fix the Israelites in 
their present state of unbelief to all generations. 

I now understand that the apostle here explains 
to us a mystery of vast and glorious import, which, 
as he elsewhere says, (Eph. 8 : 9) was from the be- 
ginning of the world hid in God, who created all 
things by Jesus Christ. The coming in of the full- 
ness of the Gentiles, I believe to have been simul- 
taneous with the second coming of Christ, when 
his kingdom (as I have previously set forth) was 
fully and gloriously established among the Gen- 
tiles by the conversion of the millions who then 
formed the Christian Church ; which period was 
that of the resurrection also, viz. : immediately 
after the destruction of Jerusalem. At which re- 
surrection all Israel, as well as all others, who had 
died in Adam, were made alive in Christ ; and all 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 155 

who survived that period, both Jews and Gentiles, 
have been the subjects of a continuous resurrec- 
tion, being changed at, or immediately after death, 
and clothed upon with a spiritual and glorious 
body, bearing the image of the heavenly man 
Christ, as they had borne the image of the earthly 
man Adam. Thus the resurrection of the Gentiles 
was also that of the Jews, and so all Israel was 
saved. Such, I believe, was one of the mysteries 
revealed to Paul, and which he desired to make all 
men see and know, that they might rejoice in hope 
of the glory of God, to be revealed in all in due 
time. 

" As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for 
your sakes, but as touching the election they are 
beloved for the fathers' sakes ; for the gifts and 
calling of God are without repentance." — Ys. 28, 29. 

They, the Israelites, are indeed enemies to the 
gospel, and as such, transgressors, (though their 
enmity is your mercy). Yet they are beloved as 
the chosen seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and 
the gracious purpose of God concerning them will 
never change. 

" For, as ye in times past have not believed God, 
yet have now obtained mercy through their unbe- 
lief, even so have these also now not believed that 
through your mercy they also may obtain mercy." 
— Ys. 30, 31. 

" For, as ye were unbelievers and are brought 
into a state of salvation by their rejection and cru- 
cifixion of Christ, even so shall they, though now 



156 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

in unbelief, share with you the same blessings and 
salvation. 

u For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that he 
might have mercy upon all." — Y. 32. 

" For God hath concluded all," both Jews and 
Gentiles, (as they really were) in a state of " un- 
belief" and condemnation ; and hath, therefore, 
made the same provision for the salvation of all, 
in and through Christ. 

u O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom 
and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his 
judgments, and his ways past finding out ! For 
who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who 
hath been his counsellor ?" — Vs. 33, 34. 

" the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of 
God !" by which he accomplishes his purposes of 
infinite love and goodness : how infinitely do they 
transcend our highest thoughts and conceptions ! 
Who hath known the mind of the Lord ? who can 
fathom his deep designs, or could have devised the 
means to accomplish them ? 

" Or, who hath first given to him, and it shall be 
recompensed unto him again ?" — V. 35. Who can 
offer gifts or sacrifices for which he may claim a 
reward ? 

" For of him, and through him, and to him, are 
all things ; to whom be glory forever. Amen." — 
V. 36. 

For all are of his creation ; and of his free and 
sovereign grace, is the salvation and glorification 
of the whole humanity. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY, 157 



CHAPTER VII. 

I have thus commented on the whole of the 
eleven first chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, 
which embrace the entire apostolic Christian The- 
ology, for the purpose of showing, as I most sin- 
cerely believe, that the in-being and membership 
relation of the humanity to Christ, its head, and 
its consequent filial relation to God the Father, is 
the only doctrine and system of faith which is in 
harmony with those scriptures ; and if so, it is true 
primitive Christianity. 

I shall now advert to other passages in this and 
the succeeding Epistles for the same purpose. 

Chap. 12, v. 1. — " I beseech you, therefore, bre- 
thren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your 
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, 
which is your reasonable service." Here we are 
exhorted and persuaded, "by the mercies of God," 
by his abundant mercy and love, revealed in the 
gospel, (not for fear of his wrath and vengeance) 
to devote ourselves wholly to his service and to 
his will. Such are the general persuasives in the 
scriptures to obedience — to repentance — to turn 
from our sins— while, in other instances, the same 



158 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

goodness warns us of the fearful consequences of 
transgression; and, in ]anguage expressive of "in- 
dignation and wrath, tribulation, and anguish," 
— not however of hatred, or a disposition to inflict 
upon us positive evil — but mercifully to chastise 
and correct us, though often with fearful severity, 
according to the enormity of our transgressions. 

Hence, we learn that the object of all the divine 
threatenings and inflictions is to warn and to deter 
us from the commission of sin, not to reform and 
change the disposition : neither have they any in- 
herent power to produce that happy effect. If I 
apply the chastening rod to a disobedient child, 
the object is to convince, and cause him to feel, 
that the certain effect of sin is suffering, and there- 
by to deter him from a repetition of the offence. 
But if I seek to convert him, and change his pro- 
pensity to transgress my laws to a disposition to 
love and delight in my will and commands, I shall 
manifest to him the loving kindness of an affec- 
tionate parent, and in such manner as to assure 
him that obedience to my commands is promotive 
of his happiness, and that my will is to secure and 
perfect his highest bliss. 

It is, therefore, in the manifestation of the love 
and goodness of the parent that we are to look for 
the power to regenerate and convert the sinful and 
sinning child from his love of sin and hatred of 
holiness to a love of holiness and hatred of sin, 
which hatred of sin and love of holiness is " re- 
pentance unto life." 



VERSUS POPULAK THEOLOGY. 159 

Such, and such only, is the power by which a 
sinner is " translated from the kingdom of dark- 
ness into the kingdom of God's dear Son" — by 
which he "passes from death unto life' 1 — by which 
he is "born again ;" by which birth he enters into 
the " kingdom of God" — the faith of the gospel. 

It is, therefore, clear and certain that the ob- 
ject and design of the threatenings, denuncia- 
tions, and chastisements of our heavenly Father 
are to deter us from transgression and from repeat- 
ing our violations of his laws ; and that the object 
and design of the manifestation of his love in the 
gospel of his Son, is to change our disposition to 
violate those laws to a disposition to love and 
obey them. 

Vs. 2-8, teach us that our faith is a renewing or 
enlightening of our minds, elevating our affections 
above the things of the world, and to the contem- 
plation of "that good and acceptable and perfect 
will of God" — that we should keep in mind that 
all are alike the objects of his love — that each may 
" think of himself soberly," humbly, and be ready 
to fulfill the duties assigned to him in the Church, 
all being alike the members of Christ's body. 

The remainder of the chapter is a sublime and 
perfect embodiment of the Christian graces and 
duties, enforced with all the eloquence and power 
of truth and love. On the three last verses I am 
impressed to offer some special remarks. 

V. 19. — " Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, 
but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, 



160 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the 
Lord." 

Y. 20. — Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed 
him ; if he thirst, give him drink ; for in so doing 
thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head/' 

Y. 21. — " Be not overcome of evil, but over- 
come evil with good/' 

How perfectly these injunctions harmonize with 
those of the Saviour, viz. : " But I say unto you, 
love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do 
good to them that hate you, and pray for them 
which despitefully use you and persecute you." — 
Mat. 5 : 44. Paul had learned of Christ. 

''Dearly beloved.'' How tender! Why were 
those addressed so dearly beloved ? Because they 
were jnembers of Christ's body. "Avenge not 
yourselves?" Why? Because "vengeance be- 
longeth unto Grod.'' Why is it the prerogative 
of God to inflict chastisement ? Because he alone 
has wisdom to chastise us " for our profit." 

Why should we give food and drink to our 
enemy ? Because God does so. " He is kind to 
•the unthankful and the evil, and sends his rain 
upon the just and the unjust." 

Why is feeding and giving drink to an enemy 
like heaping coals of fire on his head ? Am. As 
fire has the power to melt, so has love. 

How are we to overcome evil with good ? By 
returning good for evil, and love for hatred, which 
makes the enemy our friend. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 161 

u Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the 
Lord/' How will he repay? He will overcome 
evil with good. 



Eemarks os 2 Cor., Chap. 5. 

" For we know that if our earthly house of this 
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of 
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring 
to be clothed upon with our house which is from 
heaven.'' — Vs. 1, 2. 

If Paul knew, why should not we also know, 
that as soon as "our earthly tabernacle," or body, 
"is dissolved, Ave have a heavenly spiritual build- 
ing of God," prepared for our immediate entrance 
and enjoyment; and that we are "unclothed," by 
death, for the very purpose, that we may "be 
clothed" anew, "that this mortal may put on im- 
mortality." 

We have the same evidence as he (Paul) that 
such will be the change of all who die in Adam ; 
that they will bear the image of the heavenly, as 
they have borne the image of the earthly, Adam ; 
which evidence, as he assures us, is the resurrec- 
tion of Christ. "If so be that being clothed we 
shall not be found naked." — V. 8. 

"If so be," or, so that, being clothed, we shall 
not be found, or be left, or remain, naked — un- 
clothed ; the state in which all disembodied souls 



16 2 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

remained, from Adam to the resurrection, at Christ's 
second coming. All who were to survive the sim- 
ultaneous second advent of Christ, and the resur- 
rection of all who had died in Adam and 1 L^n 
Chnst, were to be changed at death-clothed with 

tTJTTf bod7, not to slee p or to ™» * 

the unclothed state.— 1 Cor. 15 : 51 52 

."For we that are in this tabernacle' do groan 

c t g ; U K re f; n0t fOT «** we would be" 
clothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be 
swallowed up of life."— -V 4 

witl^nfi ^V 150 ^ "^ gr0an ' b6iD S b - de ^d" 

with its mfirmities; we sigh for deliverance, "not 
that we m b unclothed/ , aQd gs > 

of sleep, but that we may « be delivered from the 
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of 
^children of God, the children of the resuLc 

"Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame 

ti sSn° t ° hath given - "~ : 

"Now he that hath wrought us" created n* 

zti s °i Chn f bod ^ for th - -™-; 

is God, who hath given us the earnest of "tha 
inheritance in the resurrection of Christ our head 

tW ?, e f e ' ^ ^ alw ^ S °° nfid «* knowing 
that whilst we are at home in the body, we arf 
absent from the Lord. (For we walk by fei" and 
not by s )g ht.) We are confident, I sa / and wUl 
mg, rather to be absent from the bodyfand to be 
present with the Lord."— V s . 6 7 8 



VEKSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 163 

" Therefore," because of the full assurance given 
us by the resurrection of Christ, that at death we 
shall be immediately present with him, we look, 
though with the eye of faith only, with an un- 
wavering confidence, to that glorious and happy 
change. 

Wherefore we labor, that whether present or 
absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must 
all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that 
every one may receive the things done in his body, 
according to that he hath done, whether it be good 
or bad.— Vs. 9, 10. 

11 Wherefore/' because of our entire confidence, 
that at death we shall be admitted to the presence 
and glory of Christ, we labor to serve him faith- 
fully and acceptably while in the body, for we 
must all appear (we apostles and other believers) be- 
fore the Judgment Seat of Christ, that we may each 
receive, or be judged in the body according to the 
things we have done, whether good or bad. It is 
perfectly clear from the context, that the apostle is 
here speaking especially, if not exclusively, of 
himself and his believing brethren, and also of the 
rewards or chastisements they were to receive from 
their divine master, at his second coming. Conse- 
quently his Judgment Seat was the seat of his 
spiritual and providential government, which, as 
has been shown, was established, according to his 
prediction, immediately after the destruction of 
Jerusalem. Christ declared, in so many words, 
that he would come to reward every man according 



164 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

to his works, before the generation to whom he 
spake should pass away. — Mat. 16 : 27, 28. It is 
moreover in perfect accordance with all the scrip- 
ture testimonies relative to the second advent — the 
resurrection and the day of judgment — that they 
were to take place simultaneously, and during the 
then present generation ; consequently the apostle 
cannot be understood to speak, either in this pas- 
sage or elsewhere, of any other judgment. 

" Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we 
persuade men ; but we are made manifest, and I 
trust also are made manifest in your consciences." — 
Y. 11. 

" Knowing the terror of the Lord." Knowing 
our fearful responsibility to the Master, for the 
faithful discharge of our ministerial duties, by per- 
suading men, by preaching faithfully the gospel of 
the grace of God, a " dispensation of which was 
committed to him," as he elsewhere said, and ex- 
claimed, " Wo is me if I preach not the gospel !" 
"But we are made manifest unto God, and I trust 
also are made manifest in your consciences." But 
our faithfulness is known unto God, and I trust, 
also, that you are conscious of the same. 

" For we commend not ourselves again unto you, 
but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that 
ye may have somewhat to answer them which 
glory in appearance, and not in heart." — V. 12. 

" For we commend not ourselves " by fair pre- 
tension, but by our lives and conduct ; that ye may 
have somewhat — some evidence of our faithfulness, 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 165 

to present to those who are great in profession, and 
nothing at heart. 

" For whether we are beside ourselves, it is to 
God : or whether we be sober, it is for your cause." 
V. 13. 

For whether we consecrate or offer ourselves an 
entire sacrifice for your good, or as the same senti- 
ment is elsewhere expressed, viz., " Yea, and if I 
be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your 
faith," it is unto God. " Or whether we be sober, 
it is for your cause." Whether we be patient, con- 
tinuing to suffer for you in the body, it is for your 
edification and joy of faith. 

u For the love of Christ constraineth us because 
we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were 
all dead : and that he died for all, that they which 
live should not henceforth live unto themselves, 
but unto him which died for them and rose again." 
— Ys. 14, 15. 

" For the love of Christ constraineth us" thus to 
consecrate and offer ourselves, because we thus 
judge, that if he (Christ) died for all, then all died 
in him ; and that he thus died for all, that they 
might rise in him to immortality and glory, as 
heirs of God, and joint heirs with him, (Christ). 
And that they who are thus made accepted in the 
beloved and heirs of glory, might not henceforth 
live unto themselves, or in the indulgence of the 
lusts of the flesh, but unto him, or in his spirit of 
love and holiness, who thus died for them and rose 
again. 



166 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

" Wherefore, henceforth know we no man after 
the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ 
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him 
no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he 
is a new creature : old things are passed away ; 
behold, all things are become new." — Vs. 16, 17. 

u Wherefore, henceforth we know no man after 
the flesh." We know no difference between Jew 
1 and Gentile, all being alike the children of God, 
through Christ. "Yea, though we have known 
Christ " as the seed of Abraham, and sent first 
"unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, yet now, 
he having died for all, that all might rise to life 
in him, we know him as no other than the Saviour 
of all men. Therefore, if any man, or all men, be 
in Christ, especially if so experimentally by faith, 
he is a new creature, belongs to a new dispensa- 
tion ; old national distinctions, and the old dispen- 
sation, are passed away — all things are become 
new. 

" And all things are of God, who hath recon- 
ciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given 
to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that 
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto him- 
self, not imputing those trespasses unto them, and 
hath committed unto us the word of reconcilia- 
tion."— Vs. 18, 19. 

" And all things are of God." Christ is of God, 
and we being members of Christ's body, and also 
of God, and Christ's obedience, suffering, death, 
and resurrection being ours, we are made accepted 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 167 

in him, and therefore reconciled to God ; therefore, 
he will not impute our trespasses unto us. In 
other scripture language, our " sins are pardoned 
or remitted, and our transgressions are blotted 
out." And this reconciliation, pardon, and remis- 
sion of sins, and blotting out of transgression, is 
certainly for all men, inasmuch as the text affirms 
that God reconciled the world to himself in Christ. 

Such is the word of reconciliation which was 
committed to the apostles ; such was the gospel 
they were commanded to preach ; such, and such 
only, is the gospel now. No other gospel is worthy 
of belief, u though an angel from heaven preach it." 

"Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though 
God did beseech you by us : we pray you, in 
Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he 
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, 
that we might be made righteousness of God in 
him."— Ys. 20, 21. 

" Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though 
God did beseech you by us." As were the apos- 
tles, so are all truly Christian ministers, ambassa- 
dors for Christ, and for God. No other than 
Christian ministers ever sustained so high an office ! 
The very least of them is greater than John the 
Baptist; and he was greater and more than a 
prophet. By whom are they appointed, and what 
court do they represent? Arts. They are commis- 
sioned by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, 
and they represent the Court of Heaven. What is 
their mission, and to whom ? Arts. They bear a 



168 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

message of infinitely forgiving mercy and love, 
from God the Father, and from his Son, Jesus 
Christ, who is the head of every man to the hu- 
manity, which is his body, the fullness of him that 
filleth all in all. 

How were they instructed to deliver their mes- 
sage ? Arts. " As though Grod did beseech you by 
us, we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled 
to God" — be assured of the pardon of your sins, 
and that "you are made accepted in the beloved." 

Such is the office of every Christian minister, 
such the glorious import of the tidings they bear, 
and the sanctions of their embassy. How vast 
their responsibility to their Lord and Master. The 
indispensable qualifications for the holy office, are, 
that the candidate be full of faith, and of the Holy 
Ghost, the spirit of love — that he emulate the di- 
vine meekness, which doth beseech us to be recon- 
ciled to God, — to accept the assurance of the pardon 
of our sins. 

" For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew 
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness 
of God in him." He, the Son of God, who knew 
no sin, took upon him our sinful nature, in which 
he suffered for us, and in which he also yielded a 
perfect obedience to God, by which we became 
righteous and acceptable to God, in and through 
him. 

Thus, I trust I have shown that the day of judg- 
ment, of which the apostle speaks in v. 10, was 
simultaneous with the second coming of Christ, 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 169 

and that both those events took place according to 
the predictions of Christ and his apostles, before 
the then existing generation passed away, and that 
the awards of that judgment, for the things done 
in the body, whether good or bad, were likewise 
administered in the then present life, and will con- 
tinue to be so administered, "in the earth/' or in 
the earthly state. 

Also, that the judgment seat of Christ was then, 
as now, his providential, spiritual presence and 
power — not in the spiritual world, but in his king- 
dom established in the earth, where both the 
righteous and the wicked are recompensed, " much 
more," or especially, the latter. 

Eemarks on a portion of the Epistle to the 
Ephesians. 

" Blessed be the Grod and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual 
blessings in heavenly places in Christ.' ' — Chap. 1, 
v. 3. Who hath blessed us with all spiritual bless- 
ings in Christ — with glory and immortality in the 
heavenly state — in the presence of his Father. 

" According as he hath chosen us in him before 
the foundation of the world, that we should be 
holy and without blame before him in love. Hav- 
ing predestinated us unto the adoption of children 
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good 
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of 
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the 

8 



170 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

beloved, in whom we have* redemption through his 
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the 
riches of his grace." — Vs. 4, 5, 6, 7. 

The apostle here assures his believing brethren 
that they were " chosen in Christ before the foun- 
dation of the world." They were, therefore, most 
certainly in Christ before the foundation of the 
world, as was the whole humanity, being members 
of his spiritual body ; from which mass, they (the 
apostles and the first believers) were chosen by the 
Father, and " predestinated" to show forth to the 
rest of mankind " Christ's praise and glory ; to 
make all men see what is the riches of his grace/' 
viz., " their redemption through his blood," their 
participation in his sufferings, obedience, and 
death; by which they have the forgiveness of 
sins, being made accepted in Christ. 

" Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all 
wisdom and prudence, having made known to us 
the mystery of his will according to his good 
pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that 
in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might 
gather together in one all things in Christ, both 
which are in heaven and which are on earth, even 
in him."— Vs. 8, 9, 10. 

" Wherein he hath abounded toward us," or 
hath endowed us, with all necessary wisdom, 
" making known to us the mystery of his will 
according to his good pleasure" — according to his 
love for the humanity, " which he purposed in him- 
self," in his own mind, " before the foundation of 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 171 

the world, that in the dispensation of the fullness 
of times" — in the dispensation, or the exertion, of 
his power in all time (the power of the resurrec- 
tion) — he might gather together all things, all men, 
in Christ — make all alive in Christ, "both which 
are in heaven and in earth, " both which were in 
the disembodied state at the time of the general 
resurrection (then very near at hand), and those 
which should survive this period, and be changed 
at death in all, or in the fullness of, time. 

"In whom also we have obtained an inherit- 
ance, being predestinated according to the purpose 
of him who worketh all things after the counsel 
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of 
his glory who first trusted in Christ ; in whom ye 
also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, 
the gospel of your salvation, in whom after that 
ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit 
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance 
until the redemption of the purchased possession, 
unto the praise of his glory."— Ys. 11, 12, 13, 14. 

"In whom (Christ) also we have obtained an 
inheritance," or, rather, the earnest of an inheri- 
tance, as it is called in v. 14. Paul and his be- 
lieving brethren had obtained, by faith, the assu- 
rance of the pardoning mercy and love of God, in 
and through Christ, by which faith the love of 
God was shed abroad in their hearts, which love 
was that Holy Spirit of promise, the Spirit which 
God promised by the mouth of the prophet Joel, 



172 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

according to the interpretation of Peter. — Acts 2 : 
16, 17, 18. 

" Being predestinated according to the purpose 
of him who worketh all things after the counsel 
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of 
his glory who first trusted in Christ." See re- 
remarks on vs. 4, 5, 6, 7. 

" Which is the earnest of our inheritance until 
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto 
the praise of his glory." This I conceive to be a 
parallel passage with Eom. 8 : 21, 22, 28 ; that 
both speak of the resurrection, the hope of which 
is expressed in the latter as the enjoyment of "the 
first fruits of the Spirit, waiting for the deliver- 
ance of the creation from the bondage of corrup- 
tion into the glorious liberty of the children of 
God;" and in the former, as the enjoyment of the 
earnest of the spirit, waiting for " the redemption 
of the purchased possession." The ''purchased 
possession, v and the "creation," can be none other 
than the " world for the life of which Christ gave 
his flesh" (John 6 : 51), and the "all men" for 
whom he gave himself a ransom." — 1 Tim. 2 : 6. 
The deliverance and redemption were in both 
cases looked for during the lives of those who 
were addressed; and which deliverance and re- 
demption was to be perfected by the resurrection 
of the dead at the second coming of Christ, and 
by the change of all at death who should survive 
that period. 

11 Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 173 

the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints, cease 
not to give thanks for you, making mention of 
you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto 
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the 
knowledge of him : the eyes of your understand- 
ing being enlightened, that ye may know what is 
the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the 
glory of his inheritance in the saints." — Vs. 15, 16, 
17, 18. 

" The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father 
of Glory." Can any other evidence than this lan- 
guage be necessary to show that Christ is not truly 
and verily God ? If the Father is his God, how 
can he also be God, unless we admit the existence 
of two Gods ? What is the hope of his calling ? 
The hope of his calling is the redemption of the 
purchased possession — the resurrection. " The 
riches of his inheritance in the saints" is the rich- 
ness of his indwelling in their hearts, by faith and 
love ; also, his oneness with them as members of 
his body. 

"And what is the exceeding greatness of his 
power to us-ward, who believe according to the 
working of his mighty power, which he wrought 
in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and 
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly 
places, far above all principality and power, and 
might, and dominion, and every name that is 
named, not only in this world but also in that 
which is to come ; and hath put all things under 



174 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

his feet, and gave him to be over all things to the 
Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that 
filleth all in all."— Vs. 19-23. 

" What is the exceeding greatness of his power 
to us-ward, who believe according to the working 
of his mighty power ?" The exceeding greatness 
of his (God's) power to ns-ward, is the power that 
raised Christ from the dead — the power of the 
resurrection, of which we believe we shall be par- 
takers — the power that set Christ at God's right 
hand in the heavenly place, or heavenly state. 

Far above all principality and power, &c, and 
hath given him to be head over all things to the 
Church : not the then visible Church only, but to 
the whole humanity, the purchased possession, 
" which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth 
all in all." The humanity is Christ's body, conse- 
quently he fills the whole body ; and God, being 
in Christ, also filleth all in all. 

Chap. 2. — " And you hath he quickened, who 
were dead in trespasses and sins : wherein in time 
past ye walked according to the course of this 
world, according to the prince of the power of the 
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of 
disobedience."— Vs. 1, 2. 

The prince of the power of air: Here, as in 
numerous other scriptures, is a personification of 
evil — an evil principle, the adversary — adverse to 
truth, and to all that is good and promotive of 
happiness — here called a prince — ''the prince of 
the power of the air," or of a power like the air — 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 175 

the air being a fit emblem of an invisible all-per- 
vading agent, pervading the whole humanity — 
41 the spirit," — the evil, adverse principle — that 
"worketh" in the children of disobedience : not 
(as has been for ages believed and taught) a spirit- 
ual, personal being, or devil, governing our atmo- 
sphere, and perverting its life and health-sustain- 
ing power, and thereby afflicting us with blasting 
and mildew, disease and death, at his infernal 
pleasure. It is clear, " that the prince of the power 
of the air," is no other than "the spirit that work- 
eth in the children of disobedience," which is the 
principle of evil that worketh in wicked men. 

" Among whom also we all had our conversation 
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the 
desires of the flesh and of the mind ; and were by 
nature the children of wrath, even as others. But 
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love where- 
with he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, 
hath quickened us together with Christ ; (by grace 
are ye saved) ; and hath raised us up together, and 
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ 
Jesus."— Vs. 3-6. 

And were by nature children of wrath, even as 
others : The children of disobedience — children 
deserving chastisement ; wrath being put for chas- 
tisement in this, as in many other instances. 

" But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great 
love wherewith he loved us, even when we were 
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with 
Christ." Whom did God quicken together with 



176 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

Christ ? Arts. " Both Jews and Gentiles, who were 
reconciled unto God in one body on the cross, by 
his Son making them of twain, one new man." 
By whose authority is this proclamation — this an- 
nouncement to the world — that God loves all sin- 
ners, both Jews and Gentiles — even those who are 
dead in sin ? All who believe the scriptures, an- 
swer, it is of God : this is the Lord's doing ; it is 
marvelous in our eyes. Let the heavens rejoice 
and the earth be glad. 

If God loves all sinners, even when dead in sins, 
in what condition is it possible for them to be in 
which he will not love them ? What has God 
done for all sinners pursuant to his love of them ? 
Arts. He quickened and raised them up together 
with Christ, when he " brought him again from 
the dead," about eighteen hundred years ago. 
What is God doing for all sinners now ? He is, 
in Christ, reconciling them unto himself — not im- 
puting their trespasses unto them ; that is, pro- 
claiming in the gospel of his Son, the pardon and 
remission of their sins, "having made them ac- 
cepted in the beloved." 

Why is God rich in mercy to all sinners ? and 
why does he love them with so great a love ? Be- 
en use they are his children, in and through Christ 
his Son ; he, the Son, being the head of every 
man, and the}' "the members of his body — of his 
flesh and of his bones." 

And made us sit together in heavenly places in 
Christ Jesus." We, as members of Christ's body, 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 177 

were raised up together in hirn to the heavenly 
state to the presence of the Father. 

" That in the ages to come he might shew the 
exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness to- 
ward us through Christ Jesus." — Y. 7. 

" That in the ages to come :" That in all ages, 
subsequent to the resurrection of Christ, God might 
shew his great love toward us sinners, through 
Christ Jesus, by the preaching of the gospel of his 
grace. 

" For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and 
that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God : not 
of works, lest any man boast. For we are his 
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good 
works, which God hath before ordained that we 
should walk in them." — Ys. 8--10. 

" For by grace are ye saved : n For it is to the 
preaching of the gospel of the grace of God that 
ye who believe, are wholly indebted for your faith 
and your assurance of salvation. 

"Not of works:" You are not to understand 
that you are thus saved, because of any works or 
merit of your own, lest you should boast — lest you 
should "think of yourself more highly than you 
ought to think." 

' : For we are his workmanship, created in Christ 
Jesus unto good works ••' For it is by the means 
of grace, the hearing of the gospel, that we are in 
the faith of Christ, which faith is manifest by good 
works, as God hath before ordained that we should 
walk in them. 

8* 



178 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

" Wherefore remember, that ye being in time 
past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircum- 
cision by that which is called the circumcision in 
the flesh made by hands ; that at that time ye were 
without Christ, being aliens from the common- 
wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants 
of promise, having no hope, and without God in 
the world : but now in Christ Jesus ye who some- 
times were far off are made nigh by the blood of 
Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both 
one, and hath broken down the middle wall of 
partition between us." — Vs. 11-14. 

11 Wherefore remember," that ye were uncircum- 
cised Gentiles, aliens from the commonwealth of 
Israel, strangers to, or ignorant of the promise made 
to the Israelites of the Messiah, and without hope 
in God ; and were far off — far from the enjoyment 
of their spiritual privileges ; " but are now made 
nigh by the blood of Christ," who "tasted death 
for every man," as their head ; and they, the mem- 
bers of his body, participating in the same. 

" For he is our peace;" who hath made both 
Jews and Gentiles one people : v. 15, abolishing 
the law of commandments and ordinances, which 
were as a separating wall between them : making 
in himself, by assuming our nature, one new man, 
or one undivided people — so making peace or a 
perfect union : v. 16, that he might reconcile both 
unto God, in one body, by the cross ; that is, by 
offering himself and the humanity, (it being in him) 
without spot unto God, which was the great sacri- 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 179 

fice of which those, under the Jewish dispensation, 
were but the shadow. 

Y. 17. — "And came and preached peace" — re- 
conciliation to God, to you which were afar off; — 
you, Gentiles, who were aliens from the common- 
wealth of Israel, and without hope in God ; and to 
them who were nigh — the Jews — who were the ac- 
knowledged people of God. 

" For through him we both have access by one 
spirit unto the Father." — V. 18. By Christ, we 
believers, both Jews and Gentiles, have access by 
one spirit — by one spirit of faith and love, unto 
the Father. 

u Now therefore ye are no more strangers and 
foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and 
of the household of God."— Y. 19. Ye Gentiles 
are therefore no more strangers, but fellow-citizens: 
ye are all one in Christ. 

" And are built upon the foundation of the apos- 
tles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
chief corner-stone ; in whom all the building fitly 
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in 
the Lord."— Ys. 20, 21. 

"And are built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets." The prophets built their 
hopes of a glorious resurrection to life and immor- 
tality upon their participation in the obedience, 
suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ, as 
members of his bod} r . So did the apostles, so did 
the saints, the believers in the true Messiah, under 
both dispensations. 



180 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

"In whom all the building. 7 ' In whom (Christ) 
all the building — all the children of humanity, 
fitly framed together, as the members of a perfect 
body must be, groweth, and will grow, into a holy 
temple in Christ, until the last child of Adam is 
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the 
glorious liberty of the children of God. 

"In whom ye also are builded together, for an 
habitation of Grod through the Spirit." — V. 22. In 
whom (Christ) ye believers are builded (not that 
you constitute the whole building, as spoken of 
in the preceding verse), but ye are builded to- 
gether in Church relation, for a visible church, for 
an habitation of God, through the Spirit, or by 
his Spirit — the spirit of love, which is his spiritual 
presence. 

Chap. 3. — "For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner 
of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles." — V. 1. A ■ 
prisoner for the sake of Christ. 

" If ye have heard of the dispensation of the 
grace of God which is given me to you- ward ; how 
that by revelation he made known unto me the 
mystery as I wrote afore in few words, whereby 
when ye read ye may understand my knowledge 
in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was 
not made known unto the sons of men, as it is 
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets 
by the Spirit ; that the Gentiles should be fellow- 
heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his 
promises in Christ by the gospel." — Vs. 2, 3, 4, 
5, 6. The dispensation of the gospel given to 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 181 

Paul (v. 2), and the mystery made known to him 
by revelation (v. 3), are one and the same, and are 
fully explained in v. 10, chap. 1, of this Epistle, 
to which he here refers, saying that he had writ- 
ten, or communicated, it to them afore in few 
words. These are the words, viz. : " That in the 
dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather 
together in one all things in Christ, both which 
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in 
him." See my remarks, in course, on this verse ; 
and I am impelled to add, that if these words of 
Paul are true, any gospel, by whomsoever preach- 
ed, promising less than the gathering together, in 
the fullness of time (all time), all men in Christ 
(and I want no other salvation), is another gospel 
than that which he (Paul) preached. 

This glorious mystery (which is no other than 
the gospel of the grace of God), he (Paul) tells us 
was not made known to the sons of men, as it was 
then revealed to Christ's apostles and prophets 
(v. 5, 6) — the prophets of that day. It had been 
kept secret since the world began. — Eom. 16 : 25. 
And the mystery, the secret was, that the Gren tiles 
should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, as 
were the Jews. What body ? Ans. Christ's 
body. And partakers of his promise. What pro- 
mise? Why, that in the fullness of time all in 
heaven and on earth should be gathered together 
in Christ, whose body is incomplete until that pro- 
mise shall be fulfilled : the humanity, nothing less, 
can constitute that bodv. 



182 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

" Whereof I was made a minister according to 
the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the 
effectual working of his power. Unto me who 
am less than the least of all saints, is the grace 
given that I should preach among the Gentiles 
the unsearchable riches of Christ ; and to make all 
men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, 
which from the beginning of the world hath been 
hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." 
—Vs. 7, 8, 9. 

Christ manifested himself personally to Paul, 
baptizing him with his spirit, or, with the Holy 
Ghost — the spirit of love ; love for the members 
of his (Christ's) body, which spirit of love " worked 
effectually in him (Paul) according to its mighty 
power," consecrating him, soul and body, to the 
promulgation of the gospel, or to the making 
known the mystery, or the hitherto secret purpose 
of God, to make both Jews and Gentiles — all men 
— fellow-heirs of the promise of his grace, in and 
by Christ his Son; thus making him (Paul) a 
minister according to the gift of grace (the spirit 
of love) given to him, "that he might preach 
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
Christ/ ' which riches consist in no other than the 
"unsearchable,' 7 inappreciable love of Christ to the 
Gentiles, as well as Jews. 

And " that he (Paul) might make all men see 
what is the fellowship of the mystery;" that is, 
that he might make all understand clearly the 
equal participation, both of the Jews and Gentiles, 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 183 

in the promises and blessing of the gospel, which 
promises and blessing, or, rather, the universal in- 
terest and participation in them, were from the 
beginning of the world hid in God, " who created 
all things by" and for " Christ." 

" To the intent that now unto the principalities 
and powers in the heavenly places might be known, 
by the church, the manifold wisdom of God, ac- 
cording to the eternal purpose which he purposed 
in Christ Jesus our Lord : in whom we have bold- 
ness and access with confidence by the faith of 
him."— Vs. 10, 11, 12. 

11 To the intent." I was thus qualified and com- 
missioned so to preach, that now unto the princi- 
palities and powers (meaning the numerous gos- 
pel churches, or branches of the whole Christian 
church — ecclesiastical establishments being gener- 
ally so called in the apostolical writings) might be 
known by the Church at large " the manifold wis- 
dom of God" — the mystery, or the fellowship of 
the mystery, thus developed by his preaching. 

" According to the eternal purpose." The pur- 
pose made before time in Christ, " when Christ 
was brought forth before the world began," when 
he was constituted the head of a spiritual nature, 
or race of spiritual existences — "the head of every 
man, the first-born of every creature." 

"In whom we have boldness and access with 
confidence by the faith of him." In whom (Christ) 
we have boldness and confidence to address God 
as our Father— to lift up our hearts to him in the 



184 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

full assurance of faith, in the full assurance of our 
acceptan b him as his children, believing that 

we are members of Christ's body, and that in him 
we have obeyed, suffered, died, and rose from the 
dead, and in him have acce.-s to the presence and 
glory of the Father. 

11 Wherefore I e faint not at my 

tribulation for you, which is your glory." — V. 13. 

11 Wherefore," considering the inflni: ngs 

flowing from the knowledge of the fellowship of 
the — the gospel of the grace of God — I 

"desire that ye faint not at my tribulation." 
which I am subjected by my ministry, "which is 
your glory." I suffer tribulation for your good, 
that I may contrib Dur " joy of faith." 

ise I bow my knees unto the Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 11 — V. 1-1. 

14 For this cause." Because I am counted wor: 

thus to suffer for the go; he members of 

Christ's body, I bow in gratitude to God the 

Father, and glory in my tribulation. 

Of whom the whole family in heaven and 

earth is named." — Y. 1 

" The whole family in heaven and in earth." 
j 

The human :ed in Adam in nu 

having died and risen in Chri- ;hen in hea- 

: but in its individual existence was still in 
j, inasmuch as the resurre, as not until 

the second advent of Oh but all were named 

in C 9 the members of his bod v. and there- 

fore the childre :d. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 185 

" That lie would grant you, according to the 
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might 
by his spirit in the inner man. That Christ may 
dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted 
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend 
with all saints what is the breadth and length and 
depth and height ; and to know the love of Christ 
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled 
with all the fullness of God."— Ys. 16, 17, 18, 19. 
"That he/' the Father, "would grant you, ac- 
cording to the riches of his glory," or the riches 
of his love in Christ, "to be strengthened with 
might by his spirit," or with faith "by his spirit, 
in the inner man," or in the mind. 

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith: 
that ye being rooted and grounded in love." To be 
rooted and grounded in love, is to have Christ 
dwell in our hearts ; — his presence and spirit is love. 
" That ye may be able to comprehend, &c, and 
to know the love of Christ," is to understand the 
fellowship of the mystery which Paul had ex- 
plained to them. And "to be filled with all the 
fullness of God," is to be filled with, or have a per- 
fect assurance of his love. 

" Xow unto him that is able to do exceeding 
abundantly, above all that we ask or think, ac- 
cording to the power that worketh in us." — Y. 20. 
11 God is able, and will do for us," above our highest 
conceptions, because he will provide for us "accord- 
ing to the power that worketh in us,' 7 which power 
is his love shed abroad in our hearts. 



186 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

" Unto him be glory in the Church by Christ 
Jesus, throughout all ages world without end." — v. 
21. Unto God u be glory in the Church by Christ." 
All praise offered to the Father, should be in the 
name of Christ, because we are in and of him, con- 
stituent of his body. So it should and will be in 
all ages, and to all eternity. 

The instructions and exhortations, which com- 
prise the three remaining chapters of the Epistle, 
are so plainly and perfectly in harmony with those 
preceding, on which I have commented, and so 
rich in the divine love and wisdom, with which 
that great apostle was so abundantly inspired, that 
comment upon them, by an uninspired mind, might 
rather dim than heighten their beauty and glory. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 187 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

I AM now impelled to offer a brief comment on 
chap. 3, of the Epistle to the Philippians, a portion 
of which I have formerly considered of difficult 
interpretation, and on which I conceive that new 
light is shed, by a clearer understanding of the 
''fellowship of the mystery," made known to us 
by that portion of the Epistle to the Ephesians, 
which has been the subject of my last remarks. 

Phil., chap. 3, vs. 1, 2. — "Finally, my brethren, 
rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to 
you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is 
safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, be- 
ware of the concision." 

" To write the same things to you" — to repeat 
the warnings I have before given you — "to me is 
not grievous'— is not a weariness — "and for you 
it is safe." That you may guard against " evil 
workers, or dogs," — persons seeking to subvert the 
doctrines of Christianity, and to destroy the Church 
— he warned them also against the "concision" — 
those who contended for the continuation of the 



188 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

observance of the rite of circumcision, as essential 
to salvation and acceptance with God. The sub- 
stitution of the word concision for circumcision, 
may imply that the sacred use of that rite being 
abolished, its literal observance was to be regarded 
only as a mere incision — of no possible utility. 

"For we are the circumcision, which worship 
God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and 
have no confidence in the flesh." — V. 3. For we, 
believers, are the true circumcision, " who worship 
God," or consecrate ourselves to him in the spirit, 
the spirit of love, the spirit of that love which is 
shed abroad in our hearts by Christ, being the 
fruit of our faith in him. Such is the spiritual 
circumcision or consecration of ourselves to God, 
of which the circumcision in the flesh was but a 
figure. We, believers in the gospel, rejoice in 
Christ Jesus — we trust in him alone — in his obe- 
dience, death, and resurrection, " and have no con- 
fidence in the flesh," have no trust or reliance on 
our natural descent from Abraham, or those fleshly 
ordinances which were but shadows of good things 
to come : they were the " things which perished 
w r ith their using." 

" Though I might also have confidence in the 
flesh. If any other man thinketh he hath whereof, 
he might trust in the flesh, I more : circumcised 
the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe 
of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touch- 
ing the law, a Pharisee : concerning zeal, perse- 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 189 

cuting the Church ; touching the righteousness 
which is in the law, blameless." — Y. 4-6. 

" Though I might have confidence in the flesh." 
If those evil workers, of whom I have warned you, 
claim authority as teachers in the Church, on the 
ground of their legal righteousness, I have, on the 
same ground, an equal, and indeed a superior claim 
— being purely of the stock of Israel, manifesting 
my zeal in support of the Jewish religion, by the 
most violent persecution of Christians, for their re- 
fusal to obey its ordinances : touching the law, 
blameless. 

"But what things were gain to me, those I 
counted loss for Christ." — V. 7. But all those 
things, those high attainments in the obedience 
and righteousness, which is of the law, I relin- 
quished ; exchanging the shadow for the substance, 
which I found in Christ. 

"Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss 
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus my Lord : for whom I have suffered the loss 
of all things, and do count them but dung, that I 
may win Christ ; and be found in him, not having 
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but 
that which is through the faith of Christ, the 
righteousness which is of God by faith." — Ys. 8, 9. 

" Yea, doubtless," — truly and verily I count all 
things, the whole system of offerings and sacrifices, 
of types and shadows, the whole covenant of works, 
" but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the 



190 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

loss of all things, — for whose perfect offerings and 
sacrifices, as the head of every man, I renounce the 
doctrine of justification by the deeds of the law, 
and my legal righteousness, as utterly impure and 
worthless, that I may fully embrace and trust in 
Christ. — " And be found in him," as a member of 
his body: not pleading my own righteousness, 
which is by the deeds of the law, but relying 
wholly on the righteousness which is of God in 
Christ, of which I have the assurance by faith. 

" That I may know him, and the power of his 
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, 
being made conformable unto his death ; if by any 
means, I might attain unto the resurrection of the 
dead."— Vs. 10, 11. 

" That I may know him,' 7 &c, I have renounced 
and exchanged all other hope and dependence, for 
the knowledge of the power of Christ's resurrec- 
tion ; which is the resurrection of every man in 
him. 

"And the fellowship of his sufferings;" that I 
may suffer as he (Christ) suffered ; that is, for the 
members of his body, the humanity. "If by any 
means," — by any sufferings yet appointed for me — 
I may attain to their full measure, and so to the 
mark (the day of my death) for the prize of the 
high calling of God in Christ Jesus : which prize 
is the resurrection of the dead. For I do not count 
that I have yet apprehended, experienced, all the 
sufferings appointed for me, but I forget those al- 
ready endured, and reach forward, " that I may 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 191 

fill up that which is behind, of the afflictions of 
Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake." 

"Let ns, therefore, as many as be perfect, be 
thus minded ; and if in anything ye be otherwise 
minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." — 
V. 15. 

"As many as be perfect :" As many as are per- 
fectly devoted to the promulgation of the gospel 
and cause of Christ, and ready (as was Paul) to 
sacrifice his life for that purpose, let them be thus 
minded. " And if in anything ye be otherwise 
minded :" If ye have not yet attained to that 
entire devotion to Christ, and strength to suffer all 
things for his sake, Grod shall reveal or grant even 
this strength unto you in due time. 

"Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, 
let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same 
thing."— Y. 16. 

" Let us walk by the same rule :" Let us imi- 
tate our divine master in love and devotion to the 
happiness of all mankind. 

11 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark 
them which walk so, as ye have us for an example. 
(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, 
and now tell you even weeping, that they are the 
enemies of the cross of Christ ; whose end is de- 
struction, whose God is their belly, and whose 
glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things)." 
— Vs. 17-19. The apostle here repeats the warn- 
ing which he had given in verse 2 of the chapter, 



192 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

and predicts the entire apostasy and destruction, or 
punishment, of false teachers. 

"For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence 
we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : 
who shall change our vile body, that it may be 
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to 
the working whereby he is able to subdue all things 
unto himself "—Vs. 20, 21. 

" For our conversation is in heaven :" We be- 
lievers realize, by faith, that Christ, the head of 
every man, is " at the right hand of the majesty in 
the heavens ; " and we look for him from thence 
because he told us he would come the second time, 
before this generation should pass. 

" Who shall change our vile body, that it may 
be fashioned like unto his glorious body :" Is it 
indeed true that Paul and the other apostles did 
verily look for and believe that Christ would make 
his second advent " before the passing away of 
that generation ?" — that he would then " quicken 
the dead — all who had died in Adam — that they 
might live in him (Christ) and bear his image, as 
they had borne the image of Adam, " and that he 
would also change the vile bodies of all who should 
survive that period. If we believe that Paul, who 
had seen the Lord, and heard the words of his 
mouth, was taught by him thus to speak, and if 
we believe, moreover, that the strictly correspond- 
ing predictions of Christ were fulfilled, then, verily, 
it is true, that Christ did so come and raise the 
dead ; also that he did then, and still continues, to 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 193 

change at death the vile bodies of all survivors of 
that great event, and to fashion them like unto his 
glorious body. 

" According to the working whereby he is able 
to subdue all things unto himself :" As God created 
all things, all worlds, and all men, by and for Christ 
his Son, so is he now, and will ever be, according 
to that same working of the Father by him, able 
to subdue all things unto himself, or to change 
every member of his body even to the latest child 
of Adam, from mortality to immortality — from the 
likeness of Adam to the likeness of himself. 



Remarks os a portion of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews. 

The object and design of that communication, 
which was written to the Hebrews from Italy, was 
to set forth the abundant evidence contained in 
the scriptures, that Jesus was the Christ — the pro- 
mised Messiah — the Son of God — who had come in 
the flesh. Thus, in chapter 1st, he argues and estab- 
lishes Christ's divine Sonship ; and in chapter 2 : 
1-4, exhorts the brethren to give diligent heed to 
his teachings and instruction, as "to him that 
speaketh from heaven/' and warns them of the 
consequences of rejecting the great salvation — the 
gospel — which he, Christ, had first preached to 
them, and which was afterward preached by the 
apostles, — God bearing them witness, both with 

9 



194 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts 
of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. 

Y. 5. — " For nn to the angels hath he not put in 
subjection the world to come whereof we speak." 
By the " angels" here spoken of, I understand the 
Jewish ecclesiastical rulers as in verse 2 : Moses 
and the prophets are evidently so called, and the 
world to come was the gospel Church state. 

V. 6. — "And one in a certain place testified, 
saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? 
or the son of man, that thou visitest him ?" that 
is, What is humanity, that it should be exalted to 
a union with thy son, in the person of the Son of 
man, who was made a little lower than the angels ; 
and yet, by virtue of which union, thou crownest 
him with glory and honor, and didst set him over 
the works of thy hands ? 

Y. 8. — " Thou hast put all things under him ; 
for in that he put all in subjection under him, he 
left nothing that is not put under him. But now 
we see not yet all things put under him." These 
7 and 8th verses are a quotation from the 8th 
Psalm ; and although what is expressed, in some 
sense, is true of all mankind, yet its reference to 
the Messiah is justified by the example of Christ, 
who applies the same passage to himself. — Mat. 
21 : 16. 

Y. 9. — " But we see Jesus, who was made a little 
lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, 
crowned with glory and honor ; that he by the 
grace of God should taste death for every man." 



VEESUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 195 

" But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower 
than the angels;" that is, "who was made of the 
seed of 'David,' according to the flesh'' — " that he, 
by the grace" — the love of God for the humanity 
— the members of Christ's body — " should taste 
death for every man " — every man being in him : 
and then, that he should "be crowned with glory 
and honor ;" that is, that he — and every man in 
him — should rise from the dead to immortality and 
glory. 

V. 10. — " For it became him, for whom are all 
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing 
many sons " (the many members of Christ's body) 
" unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation 
perfect through sufferings :" That he, the captain, 
might bear their griefs, carry their sorrows, be 
wounded for their transgressions, (in the first 
Adam) and bruised for their iniquities, yielding 
a perfect obedience to the divine law, and offering 
the many members in his own body on the cross, 
without spot, unto God, that, as a triumphant cap- 
tain, he might rise from the tomb (and the humanity 
in him) to immortality and glory in the presence 
of God, (v. 11) "saying, behold, I, and the chil- 
dren thou hast given me, for both he that sancti- 
fieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one." 
V. 14. " For as much then as the children are 
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself like- 
wise took part of the same ; that through death he 
might destroy him that had the power of death — 
that is, the devil." The cause, or power of death, 



196 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

both physical and moral, is in the body : the lusts 
of the flesh is the cause of sin, which is moral 
death ; and the flesh and blood constitution of the 
body, necessarily subjects it to physical death. The 
lusts of the flesh, in which is the power of moral 
death, is therefore the devil or adversary : the 
death of Christ, and of the humanity in him, was 
the death of the Adamic flesh and blood consti- 
tution, and the lusts thereof, and consequently the 
destruction of the devil. 

Y. 15. — "And deliver them (all men) who, 
through fear of death, were all their lifetime sub- 
ject to bondage." We are delivered from the 
bondage of fear, both of physical and moral death, 
by our faith in Christ, who has thus abolished 
death, and brought life and immortality to light. 

V. 16 has, in substance, been heretofore referred 
to. 

Y. 17. — " Wherefore in all things it behooved him 
to be made like unto his brethren," (the members 
of his body are called his brethren, because they 
are in and through him the children of God — he is 
elsewhere called their ' Elder Brother 7 for the same 
reason), " that he might be a merciful and faithful 
High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make 
reconciliation for the sins of the people. 

Y. 18.—" For in that he himself hath suffered 
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are 
tempted." 

" That he might be a merciful and faithful High 
Priest in things pertaining to God." That as their 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 197 

loving and faithful High Priest, his offering and 
sacrifice might be perfect and acceptable unto God; 
11 that he himself being tempted, and being touched 
with the feeling of their infirmities, is able to suc- 
cor them that are tempted." 



198 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 



CHAPTER IX. 

The commentaries thus far offered on different 
portions of the apostolic writings, have, as before 

tablishthe truth 
of the inbeing relation of the Humanity to the Son 
of God, and its consequent filial relation to the 
Father as the true foundation of genuine Chris- 
tianity : second. hat no ex >f those, 
or of the scriptures generally, can harmonize them 

1 a partial or conditional -salvation, and that 

b partial and conditional salvation is eterr 
at issue with the univei acknowlc ittri- 

butes of God. 

K as I hope, I have in some good degree, in 

" of candid and unprejudiced minds, succeeded 
in accomplishing my purpose, in such proportion 
1 shall hope that ::::es I have adduced in 

port of those propositions, will be thoroughly 
and duly examined and weighed by my readers 
of that character. I solicit inquiry, not contro- 
£ equal moment to myself and all 
others, that the evidence presented in proof of pro- 
positions involving the eternal destiny of the world, 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 199 

should be submitted to the severest scrutiny and 
most searching ordeal. 

The question at issue between the system of doc- 
trine, which, according to my understanding of the 
scriptures, claims to be primitive Christianity, and 
that of popular theology, is to be decided by evi- 
dence, not by argument or words of man's wisdom ; 
and the evidence is to be credited according to the 
known truthfulness of the witness. In a word, 
the sole evidence in this cause, is the Bible, inter- 
preted and construed in harmony with the divine 
perfections and attributes. The decision and judg- 
ment, which is according to such evidence, is final, 
and from it there is no appeal. 

Let there be, therefore, no human creeds or tra- 
ditions, however confirmed by the time-honored 
sanctions of the Church, introduced as witness in 
this cause, 

I do not however repudiate reason, as some have 
done, for the purpose of establishing the infallibility 
of the Church. I call her not as a witness, but 
summon her as a juror, and anticipate her verdict, 
with the utmost confidence, in favor of that inter- 
pretation of scripture, which harmonizes with the 
character and attributes of God, and against that 
which is in derogation of both. 

The issue to be tried is, whether the purpose of 
God is the final holiness and happiness of all sin- 
ners, in and through his Son, or that millions of 
millions of those sinners shall suffer eternal tor- 
ments, the means provided being alike ample for 



200 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

the salvation of a part or the whole. I ask that 
the witness be examined, and a true verdict given, 
according to the evidence and the law of the divine 
perfections. 

The true meaning of the scriptures is, beyond 
all controversy, in harmony with the law of those 
perfections. That harmony is therefore the essen- 
tial characteristic of all true exegesis of scripture. 
Many of the divine testimonies are indeed of very 
difficult interpretation, and some of them seem to 
conflict with the plainest truths generally incul- 
cated; j^et we have, in the divine word, a super- 
abounding, clear, and distinct revelation of the 
character and purposes of God, and of our duties 
to him and our fellow-man. 

The promise of the seed of the woman — which 
was but the promise of the Messiah — was the be- 
ginning or dawning of that revelation ; and the 
immediate institution of offerings and sacrifices, 
were symbolical illustrations of the inbeing relation 
of the humanity to Christ. 

The absolute seminal existence of the many in 
the one, is more definitely taught and affirmed in 
the covenant which God made with Noah, and his 
posterity in him ; by virtue of which covenant 
they were immersed with him (Noah) in the waters 
of the flood, and with him arose, as from a watery 
tomb ; from which posterity alone, or seminal ex- 
istence in Noah, are the millions which have, and 
are now spreading abroad upon the face of the 
earth. 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 201 

Thus do we learn, from this stupendous provi- 
dence of God, that we have a positive existence in 
his Son, and are consequently participant in his 
obedience, death, and resurrection. 

So also did God bless all the nations and families 
of the earth, in Abraham and his seed, (Christ). 

Thus did Moses, by the command of God, so 
amplify the institution of offerings and sacrifice, as 
to prefigure, by the representative death of the 
people in their High Priest, the absolute inbeing 
of the whole humanity in Christ, and their recon- 
ciliation to God through him. 

So did "God speak, by all his holy prophets 
since the world began, of the restitution of all 
things," (all men), not only to primeval innocence, 
but to glory and immortality in and through 
Christ. "And in the last (or gospel day), he hath 
spoken to us by his Son," assuring us " that he sent 
him not into the world to condemn the world, but 
that the world through him might be saved." 
11 Also, that he gave him (Christ) power over all 
flesh, that he might give unto them eternal life." 
Pursuant to which purpose, " he hath raised him 
from the dead, and sat him at the right hand of 
the throne of the majesty in the heavens." 

From whence he hath appeared "the second 
time," in the power of his Spirit, or of the Holy 
Ghost, to quicken and raise the morally dead to a 
life of faith and love, and the literally dead, all 
who die in Adam, to immortality and glory. 

Thus is the continuous and whole revelation of 



202 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

God perfected, to the infinite glory of his grace, 
which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the 
world began. 

And thus has the light of that revelation risen, 
from the dawning of its day in Eden, shining forth 
upon the world, through the promise of the woman's 
seed — the offerings and faith of Abel, Enoch, and 
other antediluvians, who called upon the name of 
the Lord, — through the characters, teachings, and 
offices sustained by Noah, Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob, Moses and the prophets, John the Baptist, 
Christ and his apostles, unto the perfect day of the 
Lord, and the spiritual glory of his second appear- 
ing. 

What then is the mission of primitive Christian- 
ity ? Arts. Both to judge and to save the world. 
By what law ? Ans. By the law of love : which 
law is the gospel of Christ — the word of God, 
" which is quick and powerful, and sharper than 
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing 
asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and in- 
tents of the heart." 

How does the gospel judge the world, or what 
is the process ? Ans. It is preached, or addresses 
itself to a world dead in sins — a world lying in 
wickedness — that it may be judged according to 
men in the flesh, but live according to God in the 
spirit. How does the world lie in wickedness? 
Ans. There is none that loveth perfectly — that 
loveth his neighbor as himself — no, not one. They 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 203 

are together, more or less, unprofitable, unloving — ■ 
loving not in deed and in truth. What is the 
penalty for violating the law of love ? Ans. L He 
that soweth to the flesh, which lusteth to envy and 
hatred, shall of the flesh (envy and hatred) reap 
corruption, suffering," or " damnation/' which is 
the scripture word. Where shall he so reap ? — in 
another world ? Certainly not, if he reaps of the 
flesh, because the flesh can exist only in this world. 
M He that hateth his brother is a murderer, and no 
murderer hath eternal life (or the love of the gos- 
pel, the love of Christ), abiding in him." Those 
who hate, " bite and devour one another and are 
consumed one of another.' ' Thus, sowing to the 
flesh, and reaping of the flesh, destruction and 
misery are in their ways" — in the ways of all that 
hate. 

The requirements of the law of love are there- 
fore, — cease to hate, learn to love. 

Thus doth the gospel judge the world, according 
to men in the flesh — those who are morally dead. 
Now, what is the power of the gospel, by which 
men live unto God in the spirit ? Ans. Its pro- 
clamation and manifestation to the world, of the 
infinite love and pardoning mercy of God to sin- 
ners, — all sinners, even the chief! All who be- 
lieve that proclamation, respond to that love, and 
are born of God, and live unto him, in the very 
spirit of his love ; by which spirit they love as 
God loves — all, even the evil and the unthankful ; 



204 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

they have ceased to hate, (except their sins), and 
learned to love; they have repented unto life. 

But doth the gospel save us only in this life ? 
Ans. In no other. It doth indeed beeet us to a 
lively hope of our inheritance; which is incorrupti- 
ble, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved 
in heaven for us, all of which is perfectly adapted 
to our present state. 

It is then true, as the gospel of God our Saviour 
is true, that every sinner is a member of Christ's 
body, of his heavenly and earthly nature, and 
therefore a child of God, a subject of his tender 
mercy and infinite love, " even when dead in tres- 
passes and sins." 

Shall the glorious mystery which was made 
known eighteen hundred years ago, be now con- 
cealed from sinners, lest they do evil that good 
may come? Was Paul made a minister that he 
might conceal it? Hear him. "Unto me, who 
am less than the least of all saints, was this grace 
given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the 
unsearchable riches of Christ ; and to make all men 
see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which, 
from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in 
God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." — 
Eph. 3 : 8, 9. Why make all men see it, if it in- 
cluded but a few ? 

Go then, every gospel messenger, preach to every 
sinner the infinite love and forgiving mercy of 
God, as revealed in Christ, the head of every man, 
that every sinner may believe, and believing, may 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 205 

respond to that love ; which being shed abroad in 
his heart, he shall cease to hate, (naught but sin), 
and learn to love — to love God and his fellow-men. 

Will he then be inclined to do evil, that good 
may come? " Being dead to sin, he will desire 
not to live any longer therein." 

What do the ministers of the popular sects 
preach? Ans. That we must repent and believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well ; how must we 
believe on him ? what must we believe concerning 
him ? Their reply is, that we must believe that, 
if we repent of our- sins, God will forgive, and 
Christ will save us by his atoning blood, shed for 
us on the cross ; but if we do not thus repent, God 
will not forgive us, and the atonement of Christ 
will avail us nothing, and we must eternally perish. 

If the case be so with us, we have to change the 
Deity from an unforgiving to a forgiving disposi- 
tion toward us, by our repentance ; then it is for 
our repentance that we are forgiven, and not for 
Christ's sake, or for aught that he has done or suf- 
fered, and our repentance (not the blood of Christ) 
is the atonement ; then is our salvation of works, 
not of grace. 

Such, then, is popular theology — the popular 
gospel — conscientiously and solemnly believed to 
be truthfully stated. If it be true, what is the 
hope of the world ? Ans. That those only can be 
saved who have so repented and so changed the 
disposition and purpose of the Deity, and then be- 
lieved in the saving virtue and power of the blood 



206 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

of Christ. Admitting now the possibility of such 
repentance and change in the Deity, what propor- 
tion does the number of the happy subjects of it 
bear to those who have not so repented ? 

Having no reliable statistics to consult, probable 
conjecture must answer that question as best it 
may. Suppose there are one thousand millions 
now living who must so repent, or (to use the 
popular phrase) suffer the pains of hell forever ; 
and suppose that Christendom contains one- fourth 
part of that population, which is two hundred and 
fifty millions : of which number, I do not learn 
that pious persons generally estimate that more 
than one in twenty are ever truly repentant. Which 
estimate would leave seven hundred and fifty mil- 
lions, or seven hundred and fifty times ten hundred 
thousand of the present generation alone (each an 
immortal being) to suffer eternal torments ! 

And yet, this vast number, so difficult even for 
the mind to grasp, is in proportion to all who have 
since the creation, and will in all time, die unre- 
pentant, as it is, to the sands iipon the sea-shore, 
which are inconceivably innumerable. 

It is not, and certainly will not be denied, that 
the Christianity of Christendom forbids the least 
hope of salvation for an}^ that do not truly repent 
and believe in this life. Do you then realize it, 
Christian ministers, and all Christians, that the in- 
numerable millions of millions of the souls which 
God has made immortal, and who, having never 
heard of the name of Christ, have, and will die 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 207 

unrepentant and unbelieving, and must therefore 
sink to eternal perdition, woe and misery ? Charity 
replies, that you neither do, nor can, realize the 
infinite horrors of such a consummation of the 
creative power and foreknowledge of the Deity. 

And if it were indeed possible to bring home a 
truth so withering to the heart — so blasting to the 
mind — our sympathies would become our tor- 
mentors, and would overwhelm and destroy us. 

But however unnatural or preposterous it may 
generally be considered, there are many, especially 
of the Calvinistic faith, who entertain a hope that 
their sympathies with suffering humanity will cease 
at death, and that, in conformity with the divine 
will, they will rejoice in the eternal misery of their 
fellow-beings — even their relatives and friends ; 
and it must be confessed that they do but carry 
out popular theology to its legitimate effects. 

It is, then, an established truth, that popular 
theology inculcates not only the doctrine of a par- 
tial salvation, but of the salvation of the few, and 
the inevitable perdition and eternal misery of the 
many. Does it not follow that the author of that 
theology must, in his nature, be equally partial ? — 
it being universally acknowledged that all are alike 
of his own creation, and that there was with him 
no deficiency of power to save as well the many 
as the few? The answer is obvious. Can the 
author of such a system of theoloGW be the same 
that "causeth his sun to rise on the evil and on 
the good, and Bendetb his rain on the just and the 



208 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

unjust/' and who hath made no provision in na- 
ture more for one than for all ? His works speak 
louder, though not different, from his words, and 
they universally answer in the negative. 

A partial salvation is therefore at issue, as well 
with the works as with the word and character of 
God. 

Eespoxsibilities of the Christian Ministry. 

If "Christ is the head of every man, and the 
head of Christ is God," then every man is a mem- 
ber of Christ's body, and, jointly with him, a child 
of God, and an object of his infinite love. 

If Christian ministers withhold, or conceal from 
those children, or any of them, the knowledge of 
that relation, they " shut up the kingdom of heaven 
against men :" they stand before Christ's Judgment- 
seat, and shall receive in the body the things they 
have done, whether good or bad. They should 
" know and fear the terrors of the Lord. ,, They 
should "thus judge," (and the love of Christ to 
the members of his body should " constrain them" 
to persuade men) that "if one died for all, then 
were all dead, (died in Christ) and that he died 
for all, that they which live should not henceforth 
live unto themselves, but unto him who died for 
them and rose again." 

How shall those children "live unto him who 
died for them and rose again," if they are held in 
ignorance of their relation to him, and of his love 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 209 

to them ? To live unto Christ, is to live in his 
love — in love to God and all mankind. If a child 
has no knowledge of his earthly parent he cannot 
love him or live unto him, be that parent ever so 
great and good and loving. So neither can he love 
his heavenly father until he is assured of his father- 
hood and his love. " To know the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, is eternal 
life." To know God, as revealed in Christ, is to 
know him as "the head and father of Christ," and 
therefore the father of all, because all are in Christ 
as members of his body. 

Children as well as adults, must therefore be 
taught that God, in and through Christ, is their all 
gracious and infinitely loving Father ; and in pro- 
portion to their faith or belief in that truth, they 
will love God and live unto him. 

Take a child, who knows but the right hand 
from the left : teach him in the name of Christ 
that of such is the kingdom of heaven — that he is 
a child of God, and an object of his infinite love, 
in and through Christ, who died to save him, that 
he might live forever with God in heaven, — his 
heart will respond to that love, and he will seek 
his Fathers face ; he is born again ! 

So in juvenile, adult, and maturer life, the same 
teaching, the same gospel, is the same power to 
every one that believeth. 

Go to the prison, the dungeon, and the cell — 
show to the inmates that they "are receiving in 
themselves but the recompense of their error which 



210 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

is meet,'' reaping as they have sowed, and vet, that 
" Christ, the head of every man, hath suffered, 
obeyed, and died for all, that he might reconcile 
them unto God in his own body on the cross/' 
whereby all have the "remission of their sins, and 
are made accepted in Christ" — that he died for all, 
that they which live should not henceforth live 
unto themselves, but unto him who died for them 
and rose again — that they are dead in sins ; and 
this gospel is preached to them that they may be 
judged (suffer for their sins) "according to men in 
the flesh, but live" a life of faith and love "unto 
God in the spirit " — the spirit of his infinitely for- 
giving mercy and love to them. 

If they believe your message, true and unfeigned 
repentance will be the immediate effect — their faith 
will work by love, and purify their hearts, and 
they will henceforth, even in the dungeon and the 
cell, "live unto him who died for them and rose 
again." 

Above all, let the "good news and glad tidings 
to all people," be proclaimed to the poor. Like 
the great Eedeemer, the gospel messenger should 
seek and deliver his message to the masses, that it 
may reach the children of want and destitution, of 
sorrow and affliction. Such was the head of every 
man, while "in the days of his flesh, of his hu- 
miliation, he had not where to lay his head ; was 
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and 
was despised and rejected of men." Let them be 
assured that "in all their afflictions, he is afflicted, 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 211 

that lie is touched with the feeling of their infirmi- 
ties;" because they are the members of his body. 
Teach them that "God, in his abundant mercy, 
hath begotten them to a lively hope, by the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inher- 
itance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 
away, reserved in heaven for them." Contemplate 
the possible, if not probable, effect of such a mes- 
sage, delivered by authority of Christ himself to a 
mass meeting. Who can tell how many might 
hear and receive the "word gladly," as did the 
common people from the mouth of the Saviour ? 
and as at the gathering of the masses on the day 
of Pentecost, from Peter, when "three thousand 
were added to the Church in one day?" Who 
would so joyfully receive the assurance of " a glo- 
rious inheritance, reserved in heaven for them," as 
the poor and the destitute ? Not the rich ; for 
" they do not enter into the kingdom of heaven 
(the state of faith) so easily as the poor;" their 
riches engross their affections, and bind them more 
strongly to earth. Who would so bitterly weep 
for his sins, and also "love so much, as the be- 
lieving sinner, to whom most is forgiven ?" 

A meeting of the masses in open space, — open 
to the free access of those who have not wherewith 
to seat themselves in a church, or the means to 
clothe themselves in soft raiment, — is perfectly 
congenial with the fullness and freeness of gospel 
grace. 

Let the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, 



212 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

and whosoever will, thus " assemble themselves 
and come and drink of the pure Eiver of Water 
of Life freely." 

We congregate in mass, to express our interest 
and solicitude relative to things which perish with 
their using: why not to participate in the joys 
which are eternal? 

Thus might the rich and the poor rejoice to- 
gether in the common salvation — a the poor, that 
he is exalted ; and the rich, that he is made low." 
The poor, feeling that he is equal with the rich, 
except in the possession of that which, "as the 
flower of the grass, shall pass away." 

We assemble ourselves in perfect amalgamation 
of character, to offer gratulation and praise to a 
nation's benefactor, a nation's guest; why not 
manifest, in the same manner, our love and adora- 
tion to him who died for us and rose again ? 

The Christian world professes to believe that 
God and Christ are infinitely worthy of our highest 
love and adoration, but do not live their profession 
or their faith, because the evidence of that truth, 
which was once enjoyed, is weakened by the great 
diversity of interpretation of the scriptures of 
truth, and the establishment of a Theology essen- 
tially adverse to the divine- perfections. If, by an 
unprejudiced examination and study of those scrip- 
tures, the world could obtain a full assurance of a 
positive and true relation of the humanity to God 
the Father, by virtue of its existence in his Son, 
as members of his body, and of the divine pur- 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 213 

pose to deliver that humanity from the bondage 
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the child- 
ren of God, that assurance or faith would work by 
love, and purify the heart, and men would live 
their profession in proportion to the strength of 
their faith. The rich would more fully realize that 
earthly treasures pass away as the flower of. the 
grassland the poor would be thankful for daily 
bread, while they enjoy the earnest of their heavenly 
inheritance. 



OF THE UNSEEN WOKLD. 

It has been truly and eloquently said, " that all 
are passing to that bourne from whence no traveler 
returns :" and it seems to be generally conceded, 
that the immortal state is veiled in mystery and 
obscurity ; doubt and uncertainty pervade the gen- 
eral mind, questioning, to some extent, even the 
fact of a future life. 

If Christianity is true, it ought not so to be ; and 
if it were rightly understood, it would not so be. 
Some are seeking to open a communication with 
the spiritual world, through the medium of de- 
parted souls. A very considerable number, both 
of the clergy and lait} r , are now giving very earnest 
heed to the supposed spiritual rappings, clairvoy- 
ant illuminations, &c. 

To these the light of orthodoxy must be exceed- 



214 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

ingly dim, unsatisfactory, and unreliable. Well, 
if so, why not search the scriptures? where you 
may find that primitive Christianity assures us, 
with more than historic truthfulness, of the arrival 
in Judea, about eighteen hundred years ago, of a 
messenger immediately from the invisible world. 
From 

" The third heaven where God resides :" 

" In form and bodily shape like a dove ; and a 
voice from heaven proclaimed him the Son of God, 
in whom the Father was well pleased." 

He told us plainly of the unseen world — of the 
" mansions in his Father's house — of the place he 
would prepare for us," (the humanity, certainly, as 
members of his body) when we shall be " delivered 
from the bondage of corruption into the glorious 
liberty of the children of Grod." 

After assuming our nature, in which he, as our 
head, obeyed, suffered, died, (and we in him) rose 
again, and showed himself alive from the dead at 
four several times, "to chosen witnesses: once to 
above five hundred of his disciples, who had known 
him and been with him." After which he ascended 
to the " right hand of the majesty in the heavens," 
from whence he again returned" (as he had pro- 
mised) "to comfort and instruct his disciples :" an- 
nouncing his presence "by the sound of a mighty 
rushing wind, filling the house where they" (about 
one hundred and twenty) " were assembled ; bap- 
tizing them with his holy spirit, and with fire ; 



VERSUS POPULAR THEOLOGY. 215 

with the latter in the form of cloven tongues, which 
sat upon each of them,'' — indicating the miraculous 
power given to them of preaching in all languages 
the gospel of the grace of God, with tongues flam- 
ing with the fire of infinite love — melting the hearts 
of all believers to repentance and filial and holy 
affections, or, in other scriptural language, " grant- 
ing them repentance unto life." 

" Last of all, he was seen of Paul also, to whom 
he committed a dispensation of the gospel, as an 
especial apostle or messenger to the Gentiles.*' All 
the apostles were witnesses of these things, sealing 
their testimony with their blood. 

TTe also learn from the same source, that we 
shall all be saved at, or immediately after death, 
from corruption to incorruption, from dishonor to 
glory, from the likeness of Adam to the likeness 
of Christ. 

It is then certain and true, as the testimony of 
Christ and his apostles is true, that the Son of God 
has come, both the first and second time, from the 
unseen world, from the abodes of glorified spirits, 
and of the angels of God ; that he has told us of 
our incorruptible inheritance, its joys, and its 
glories, and of the fashion of our bodies, which 
are to be like unto Christ's glorious body. 

If orthodox Christianity remove not the veil, 
and the m}~stery which beclouds and darkens the 
horizon of the immortal state, (to the mind of the 
unbeliever) it is not the gospel which brings life 



216 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 

and immortality to light — the gold has become 
dim, and the most fine gold is changed. 

If the Son of God has thus revealed the glories 
of the immortal state, that we shall be clothed with 
a spiritual and glorious body, which we shall 
derive as naturally from him our spiritual head 
as we inherit our earthly tabernacle from the first 
Adam, then it cannot be said that no traveler has 
returned from that bourne which is beyond the 
precincts of mortality. 

If the report of the heavenly messenger comes 
to us with the highest possible sanction and evi- 
dence of its truth, we may not, except at our peril, 
" refuse him that speaketh." Let us give diligent 
heed to the scriptures of truth — not to lying vani- 
ties. Let us learn of him who giveth rest unto 
our souls. 






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